Review of Raavanan (2010) by Sridevi R — 03 Jul 2010

Watched Raavanan (Tamil) for the second time now. Sheer Cinematographic Brilliance! Half the story is in the visuals; So the movie is wonderful if you are a visual person and slow paced if you are not;.

*****Spoiler alert****.

Turmeric dress when Aish is kidnapped; The stick that Veera leads her by when she refuses to take his helping hand (Remember Sita had a blade of grass?); The play of light and shadow and evaluative silhouette when Prithviraj listens to people describing Veera; Landscape of black stones with tiny greens peeping out when Aish has all but lost hope; bedroom with full size mirrors (kinky and narcissistic!); The wedding song with a riot of colours instead of the usual 'uniforms' (diversity ruined by the khaki and the state); The change in Priyamani's eyes from mischief to pain within 48 hours (this is how we lose people to rebel ideologies); the tiny single tear from Aish's eyes at the end of the flashback narration; The legless god with Veera sitting on the legs! (unjustified brutality gives the state no leg to stand on); Vermilion shroud with *black border* when karthik-the hanumaan meets Aish; Prithviraj turning over the photos of his wife and that of Veera again and again and finally zeroing in on Veera; the proverbial 'burning of bridges'; Aish's virgin white salwar in the last scene; Aish getting out the train just as the train enters a tunnel and her silhouette against the tunnel; blood splattering on her face and the salwar; the silent whisper of Veera's name.

One can draw parallels to Ramayana and the state-rebel battles at the same time in every single scene. Brilliant movie. Loved it!