Raavanan!

There is a dialogue in the movie where Raghini says "kettavangala kettavangalaa kaatu".I too was praying "idha Mani sir padama kaatu".Unfortunately,it was not meant to be.Some points that I wish to share:
1.Only Maniratnam will have the guts to plagiarise Ramayana completely yet put a disclaimer:"This story resembles no one else" etc.Mani should have stopped with the theme but he goes overboard at times.We know that Karthik is Hanuman yet we see Karthik jumping all over the place to reiterate that he is Hanuman indeed.
2.Mani's scriptwriting skills make him kickstart the movie in the first reel(Raghini getting kidnapped) itself.Unfortunately,the movie does not move beyond that knot till intermission.
3.Unlike Mani films of yore,there is not a single character one can empathise with.Take the protagonist Veera.He is a saviour because the director tells us so.He is a criminal because the director tells us so.There is not a single scene which makes one adore or hate Veera.He kidnaps Raghini to avenge his sister's death yet a relation with Raghini starts blooming simply because she bravely jumps off the cliff.A strong character indeed!
4.Vikram who plays Veera is too loud.Sample some dialogues like "bak bak bak bak" and even a TRish "dan dan dandanakka".Vikram's acting seems like instructing us,"Look!I am a national award winner!Admire me!".Inspite of all these complaints,I cannot see any other actor doing justice to such a "chaotic" role.
5.Aishwarya Rai is getting older.She reminds me of Saroja Devi.She emotes well in the climax sequence.Prithviraj tries too hard yet his looks make one feel that Dev Prakash needed a rougher guy.(Eg.Vikram!)
6.The Tirunelveli slang is too artificial.Suhasini's dialogues are unclear at times.She wants to prove her intellectual self with dialogues like "Oru pakkam kelvi oru pakkam badhil" and a poem at the most inappropriate point.
7.Brilliant cinematography(The bridge scene evokes huge cheers),realistic artwork(which makes one feel that there is no artwork at all),beautiful songs(The re-engineered "Kaatu Sirukki" is a revelation) and a functional BGM score (My favourite is the crazy score with lots of African sounds when miscreants put sugar into diesel tanks) are all there.But without any semblance of an original story or a tight script,the technical hardwork has no point.
Thus "Raavanan" opens debates as to what is the real purpose of a movie.If a movie is to be seen as a chariot of technical brilliance,then "Raavanan" should be our official entry to Oscars this year.If a movie is to tell a story with absolute honesty and a tight script,then "Raavanan" fails as miserably as "Sura".
Maniratnam has extracted work from everyone forgetting to contribute his own quota.The movie feels like Sachin's 241 at Sydney in 2003.Big score alright but where is the class?where is the emotion?where is the catharsis?where is the touch?Even had it been the worst ever of Mani,I would have found satisfaction of some kind.But scriptwriting wise,it feels like the best ever of P.Vaasu.Mani needs a break.
Overall,Raavanan-Ten heads without a single brain.
P.S:A person who does literally nothing throughout but gets cheers more than Vikram or Rahman or Ash is Ranjitha.Pity her!