Raavanan - the movie, the way I saw it

 Raavanan – a battle between the good and the bad. Supposedly so. The movie changes your perspective about the two. Lets you wonder who in the movie was portrayed as good and who was portrayed as bad. Atleast to me this was the case.

I did not watch the movie in the shadows of the epic Ramayana at all. I did not read any fancy reviews. I would say I had no prejudice about the movie. I wonder what the director was thinking about the script.

What is the movie about? Its about two men, Veera – a goon that ruled a whole locality and had the love of the people there and Dev Prakash – a Super Intendent of Police that came to wipe out Veera’s empire for all the charges he had against the law. There sure is a background of why there is a battle between the two. Veera abducts Dev’s wife, Raagini and in search of her Dev sets off with a motive to bring Veera down into pieces.

The journey begins for Dev in search of Veera into a dense forest with the help of a Forest officer – Gnyana Prakasam (If am not wrong) who knows the forest in and out. Dev has a whole pack of army officials and police officers to back him up for this operation to put an end to Veera and get Raagini back.

While this is the plot of the script, there is more to the movie in terms of how it is related to the epic, if at all it really is related. Obviously, there is a Raavanan in the movie, a Raam and a Seetha also. Well, there is more I would say, there is a vibheeshana, a Hanuman and a shoorpanaki. There could have been more in the movie which I could just have missed noticing.

Veera : He is called Raavanan in the movie. Well, the director hasn’t shown anything bad about this character. Whatever he does is justified and in a way I started to feel he isn’t bad at all. He develops a liking towards Raagini and expresses it in a very straight, respectful and dignified manner. The director has portrayed Raavanan and his ten heads as ten different voices in Veera’s head. Veera is portrayed as a very crude but loyal and pristine character.

Raagini : She is abducted by Veera and initially comes across as an angry women who is so against Veera’s involving the women in the battle. She calls it cowardice and it sure is pretty convincing. Her opinion about Veera changes over time and she starts to feel the bad is slowly turning out to be good and she in a way is struggling to take a side.

Dev : Dev  is related to Raama in the movie. Its very obvious that Dev is associated to Raama and the reason being Veera is the one who abducts Raagini and she happens to be Dev’s wife, just like in the Raamayana Seetha is abducted by Raavana.  I have to mention, Dev is portrayed as a ruthless, angry Police officer whose only motive is to kill Veera. There is nothing Godly about this character except for his looks.

Now for how I saw these three characters. To me, Raama means good and Raavana means bad. This is very basic. There are always degrees of good and bad anyway. So lets just say Raama is a person who is more good than he is bad and Raavana is a person who is more bad than he is good. Veera is portrayed as a good person and all he does is justified in every possible way. Dev on the other hand is shown as a person who is merciless and cunning and shows no respect to a word he gave to someone. He kills Veera’s younger brother after speaking sweet to him and promising him he wont kill him if he comes in front of him.

I am left with a basic question after watching the movie. Whom did the director try to portray as Raavanan? Dev or Veera? To me it was Dev. I was convinced that he was Raavanan and infact even expected him to die in the hands of Veera. The movie did not end that way but if Raama meant good and a person who treated his men with respect and took care of them, it was Veera to me. If Raavana meant bad and a person whose motive was important to him more than anything else, it was Dev to me.

This could completely be a different way to see it, but if we forget Raavana had ten heads and Raama’s wife was abducted by Raavana, this is how the movie would come across as.

Some songs I love.......

Music makes my mind active! People say music can be relaxing, but for me, its something that wakes me up and makes my thoughts sprint. I am not complaining though. Its wonderful how my mind starts to assume or imagine the mood of the song that’s playing, the nature of the rhythm, the choice of the instruments, the lead singer and of course the lyric! I start to think of all this when I listen to any kind of song and to my surprise, I arrive at some amusing theories about the song and if someone asked me how I arrived at it, I would give bizarre explanations! I thought it would be nice if I could write my unusual explanations to why I love a particular song. Read on…

There are a few songs that are very much apt for a situation. Love songs, sad songs, songs that show different kinds of situations. I have a few songs which I feel are a perfect match to the situation, not only with the lyric of the song, but also with the kind of mood the music creates. Even if you did not know the exact situation of the song in the movie, you’d be able to guess the situation if you heard the song! This might sound weird but that’s how I feel about a few songs.

Omana Penne – Vinnai thaandi Varuvaya: This song is the most beautiful song I heard off late. It is about a guy who is smitten by the pretty woman he just cannot resist admiring. The rhythm of the song is soft and continuous which makes you sway along with it. The music does not outshine the rhythm progression, it is all within the limits so nothing distracts you from swaying to the beat. The lead singer’s voice has a coarse edge to it, which to me seems like he is irresistibly in love with the woman being portrayed on screen. Does this match with the situation of the song in the movie? YES! That is why I love this song.

Thangathaamarai magale – Minsaara Kanavu: Well, what can I say about this brilliant song? It is a singer’s song and SPB has done such a great job with this one. The lead is the hero of the song. If you have noticed, nothing goes beyond the male lead. The background score and the rhythm is so well blended that, you can, with no distractions concentrate on the voice and still feel the presence of the life the background music creates in the song! SPB has accentuated this song perfectly! It sounds like a man who is just about to grab the lady of his dreams in real and tell her that he is crazily in love with her. He is trying to resist, but cant. The music, the singing and the situation – a perfect match!

Kannukkul Kannai – Vinnai thaandi Varuvaya: Love this song. The music makes me feel there is some chase in the song. There is restlessness, craving, anger, love and much more that cant really be explained! The song is fast and the music is brilliant. The choice of instruments and the beat give me a feeling that there is so much expression in the song, which translates to me as restlessness. The singer’s voice and the way he has accentuated the song gives me a feeling of craving and in some places anger! The song over all is chirpy, which makes me imagine that it is about someone young. It does match with the situation.

Bombay – theme music: There is a flute lead in the song. The music is elevated; the flute gives a sober feel to it. The background music when the flute is leading is dormant. This sets the mood of the song – sadness and disappointment. The background music slowly picks up making you feel like there is more to the sadness, it is not about a single person, there are more people that relate to the sadness! And towards the end of the song, the lead, the background, everything is well blended and makes you feel there is some kind of agreement to the sadness or in other words it seems to me like the music these instruments are making are empathizing with each other!! And what is brilliant about this song is that it is instrumental and the absence of the lyric is not felt. Wonderful, isn’t it?

There are many more songs which I love for they convey what they should and it is understood in the right way! I am not sure if I was successful in penning down everything that was there in my mind but I tried!