Been there. Done that. Watched Raavanan today. Was not bad, tho' could have been better. I sort of liked it i guess. Haven't made up my mind yet. Having said that, there was definitely some amount out of disappointment at the end! Vikram was splendid i felt. But few things seemed missing. For one, i felt Mani Ratnam needn't have to so strictly stick to the Ramayan story through out like the nose reference to Surpanaka (Priya Mani) and Monkey like behavior of Karthik (reference to Hanuman) At least I was happy seeing a slight deviation towards the end.
Vikram really proved as why he was worth the billing. He was splendid throughout. Even though u feel that the movie might fall apart, you can never stop enjoying watching this guy act. He grunts, he shouts, he howls, he says that 'buck buck buck' ;-) He does everything in this movie to make that character work. I can't wait to watch his performance as Dev in the Hindi version. There was one thing that I couldn't avoid through out the whole movie. I always kept thinking how Vikram would have done that particular act of Prithvi in the Hindi version or how would have AB done a particular part of Vikram.
Prithivi does a decent enough job as a tough cop. No one seems white/Black in this movie. Everyone seem to have a gray shade to their character. Dev is not all-good and Veera is definitely not as bad as Raavanan (from the Mythology) Ash surprisingly didn't look that old as she was from our recent memories. She even looked cute in a few scenes.
One more disappointment was that few songs were never fully shown. Veera veera was part of the initial credits. Kaatu sirukki only had an old lady humming it once in the movie (wonder who it was!!!) I wanted to hear Shankar Mahadevan/Anuradha Sriram's version. Only 3 songs Kodu poatta, Kedakkari and Kalvare had some screen presence. Usire Poghudey had a couple of dialogues in between.
The big plus of the movie was the Cinematography and the camera work (V. Manikandan and Santosh Sivan) which were ably supported by the splendid BG score by Rahman. I have definitely heard a lot of bad reviews for this movie and know that many people felt cheated and disappointed at Mani's work. As I said earlier, it could have been better. But I guess it works for some and doesn't for the rest. Whatever it is, it was definitely worth a watch for Vikram's acting and the way in which a bright and green rural India was shown through out.
Vikram really proved as why he was worth the billing. He was splendid throughout. Even though u feel that the movie might fall apart, you can never stop enjoying watching this guy act. He grunts, he shouts, he howls, he says that 'buck buck buck' ;-) He does everything in this movie to make that character work. I can't wait to watch his performance as Dev in the Hindi version. There was one thing that I couldn't avoid through out the whole movie. I always kept thinking how Vikram would have done that particular act of Prithvi in the Hindi version or how would have AB done a particular part of Vikram.
Prithivi does a decent enough job as a tough cop. No one seems white/Black in this movie. Everyone seem to have a gray shade to their character. Dev is not all-good and Veera is definitely not as bad as Raavanan (from the Mythology) Ash surprisingly didn't look that old as she was from our recent memories. She even looked cute in a few scenes.
One more disappointment was that few songs were never fully shown. Veera veera was part of the initial credits. Kaatu sirukki only had an old lady humming it once in the movie (wonder who it was!!!) I wanted to hear Shankar Mahadevan/Anuradha Sriram's version. Only 3 songs Kodu poatta, Kedakkari and Kalvare had some screen presence. Usire Poghudey had a couple of dialogues in between.
The big plus of the movie was the Cinematography and the camera work (V. Manikandan and Santosh Sivan) which were ably supported by the splendid BG score by Rahman. I have definitely heard a lot of bad reviews for this movie and know that many people felt cheated and disappointed at Mani's work. As I said earlier, it could have been better. But I guess it works for some and doesn't for the rest. Whatever it is, it was definitely worth a watch for Vikram's acting and the way in which a bright and green rural India was shown through out.