Writer: Ramesh

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Watch this if you liked: “Roja”, “Guna”

Mani Ratnam's "Raavanan" is based on the modern day version of the epic adaptation "Ramayanam". Veera (Vikram), a Tamil version Robin Hood living in a tribal village with his elder brother Singam (Prabhu) and younger brother Sakkarai (Munna). Veera has a personal score to settle with Dev (Prithviraj), a police officer that he believes is responsible for his sister Vennila's (Priyamani) death. To settle his personal vengeance with Dev, Veera kidnapped Dev's wife, Ragini (Aishwarya Rai) and keeps her as his hostage for 14 days in the forest. This leads Dev and his police team to hunt down Veera with the help of a forest guard (Karthik).

One of the main attractions of this movie is the amazing camera work by Santosh Sivan and Manikandan who present moviegoers with shots of breathtaking landscapes which helps to enrich the storyline. The movie's artwork is equally superb especially for the bridge action scene, the tribal village and the broken statue by the river, which seems so realistic. The fight scene between Vikram and Prithviraj on the bridge is not to be missed as the director incorporated water elements as part of the fight. Not forgetting, Ratnam's trademark close-up shots and short dialogues are also used.

Vikram without any doubt gives top class performance for "Raavanan" and Aishwarya Rai performed well as a helpless victim and a strong woman who fights back in difficult situations. Prithviraj does justice to his character; Dev but Priyamani only has a short cameo appearance as Veera's sister.

A.R.Rahman's music score captures the onscreen play and complements the narration well, but alas, the songs are just average and only "Usure Poguthey" stands out. On the other hand, Aishwarya Rai didn't seem to suffer many injuries physically despite falling from a waterfall and has been abducted and kept in a remote forest for 14 days. Meanwhile, the chemistry between Aishwarya Rai and Vikram failed to sizzle on the silver screen. In terms of storyline, there is nothing new but just an adaptation from the "Ramayanam" saga. On the whole, "Raavanan" is a new age visual treat to the Indian moviegoers and it is worth watching!

Cinema Online, 21 June 2010