From the time Mani Ratnam wowed me with Anjali and Roja I have always looked forward to his new releases. Now that he makes films simultaneously in different languages, as opposed to simply dubbing them, they grab headlines all the more. So it has been the case for Raavanan (Tamil), Villain (Telugu), and Raavan (Hindi).
In the midst of housefull signs I luckily managed to see Raavanan. As the title suggests the film is centered around the antagonist and not the protagonist of the Ramayan. The story starts from the Sita haran episode. Veeraiyya or Veera (played by Vikram), considered a terrorist, kidnaps Ragini (Aishwarya Rai), SP Officer Dev Prakash's (Prithviraj) wife. The first shot of Veera jumping into a deep waterfall is breathtaking. He exhibits a fearful imposing presence atop a ship that is deliberately ramming into Ragini's small boat. From there on begins a tough journey for the kidnapper and his victim amidst dense jungles and devastating weather. At the same time Dev starts his search in which he is helped by a forest officer Gnanaprakasam (Karthik), the counterpart of Hanuman. Infact later in the film there is a rip off of the classic part in the Ramayan where Hanuman meets Sita in Ashok Vatika to inform her that Ram is on his way to take her back from Raavan's Lanka. In another borrowed sequence as the husband and wife are returning Dev like Ram questions Raagini's faithfulness, purity. In the film you also find equivalents of Raavan's sister Shrupnakha, here Venilla (Priyamani) and of Vibhishan, here Sakkarai (Munna). However, there are portions in which Raavanan significantly departs from the Ramayan.
Unlike Valmiki's epic you are unable to call the end a victory of good over evil. Veera's black is mixed with white and Dev's white is amply sprinkled with black. There are scores of villagers who revere Veera for his kindness towards them. It is revealed that Ragini's kidnap was an act of avenging the molestation Venilla was subject to by the police following which she committed suicide. The sad tale even brings tears in Ragini's eyes and softens her towards the villain.
In contrast while Dev is a loving husband, there is a madness in his drive to catch the terrorist which even seems to overide his desire to find his wife. Shockingly when Sakkarai comes to surrender, Dev kills him. Dev's doubting Ragini is a deliberate ploy which leads to the eventual gunning down of Veera. Ragini's efforts to save Veera turn useless and bullet-ridden as he falls down a cliff the villain is tranformed into a hero.
The exacting conditions in which most part of the film is shot must have posed a monumental challenge for the actors as well as the technicians. As the end credits rolled I wondered if such physically demanding scenes were a necessity. But then it is these very similarities and differences from the Ramayan which give us something to ponder over, else Raavanan would have been a simple fare.
