My guess of Raavan

A Mani Ratnam film will always evoke a kind of anxiety that most people would exhibit for a James Cameron or a Steven Spielberg movie. There are few directors are as articulate as Mani Ratnam is. He is a class act. The narration is crystal clear – be it his Pagal Nilavu, Nayagan, Aayutha Ezhuthu or Guru. He is also a clever director. He always bargains for best technicians to work with him – be in on screen or behind screen. He has the knack of getting the best out of all his colleagues. His latest bi-lingual flick is Raavan or Ravanan. He has roped in Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for the lead roles. Also Vikram plays an important role in both the languages. So casting is best in the profession. For music he stays with A R Rahman – and he weaves magic for Mani, who happens to be his debut director in the film Roja. And there is no doubt that he is the best in the business in Indian industry. He has Gulzar as lyricist for Hindi version and Vairamuthu for Tamil. No questioning of Gulzar, who won Oscar along with Rahman for Jai ho as also Vairamuthu, who easily is the best lyricist when it comes to Tamil cinema. Camera is handled by Santosh Sivan and Manikandan. Santosh Sivan is a veteran and Manikandan, off late is making his worth in Hindi cinema. So with all these quality people around him, what else can Mani produce – should be an extra-ordinary movie.

Looking at the teasers and stills of Raavan, you have to believe that the movie will never be short of expectations. The storyline is supposed to be based on naxals – burning issue in our country now. Abhishek looks to be the head of the tribal population and there is no law and order beyond him. Vikram looks to be a police officer, married to Aishwarya Rai and he is posted to the tribal area. He would resolve to bring an end to Abhishek’s rule amongst the tribe. Sprouted by Vikram’s action, Abhishek would abduct Aishwarya Rai. The kidnap though initially would be to threaten Vikram, later Abhishek would befall to the beauty of Aishwarya Rai and forces her to marry him. Here is where parallels could be drawn to Ramayan and could potentially cause a roar in our country. The climax would be how Vikram fights against Abhishek and wins back his wife and the story would be on how Aishwarya and Vikram fight Abhishek. The character of Abhishek is portrayed by Vikram in tamil version. My intuition is Vikram would have donned the role better than Abhishek. Overall it is going to be mouth-watering entertainment in both the languages. A separate blog on music will follow soon, so much to write on that.