Movie Review: Raavan

I watched this movie about a month ago on Sony TV. From the reviews, I knew this was not worth watching in the theater. You know what? This movie is not even worth watching on TV. I wasted 3 hours of my life on this movie...those precious hours. I could have read or something. What can I say? Curiosity got the best of me and you know what they say..."Curiosity killed the cat."

There was no plot, no story, and very bad direction. I got the gist of what the movie was suppose to be about. Apparently, so-called Raavan (Abhishek Bachhan) is actually good and Ram (Vikram) is the true villain. They have taken all the memorable parts of Ramayana and presented it in the movie:

1. Lord Ram - Sita- That is portrayed by Aishwarya Rai and Vikram as Ragini and Dev Pratap. Ragini is very much in love with her husband and will support him no matter what.
2. Lakshman (Ram's brother) - Nikhil Dwivedi as Inspector Hemant. He almost dies. (Lakshman almost died in Ramayana)
3. Hanuman - Govinda as Sanjeevani Kumar. Here I drew the line...In his introduction scene, Govinda was jumping off trees and playing hide and seek, like a mischievous monkey. He led the police force in Beera's "Lanka."
4. Raavan - Abhishek Bachhan as Beera. He is a mix of Raavan and Robin Hood. What I did not understand about his character was the weird noises he made. I think the movie could have done without those. They became annoying.
5. Surpanaka - Priyamani as Jamuni. She is Beera's sister (true to the real Ramayana). In Ramayana, Lakshman cuts Surpanaka's nose and insults her. In the movie, Inspector Hemant, at Priyamani's weddings, picks her up from the mandap by holding her nose and take her to the station, and physically insult her there.
6. Kumbhakarna and Ahiravana - Mangal (Ravi Kishan) and Hari (Ajay Gehi).

Here are the parallels between Ramayana and Raavan:

• In Ramayana, Ravan abducts Sita mata to avenge the insult of his sister, Surpanaka. In the movie, Beera kidnaps Ragini to avenge his sister's insult.
• In Ramayana, Ram killed Ravan. In the movie, Inspector Dev Pratap kills Beera.
• In Ramayana, Ram doubted Sita's character after she returns. In the movie, Dev Pratap "doubts" Ragini so that she can go to Beera and he can follow her.

Now to the ending [Spoiler Alert]: Beera dies happy because he knows Ragini has feelings for him.

So yes, like others, I wasted 3 hours of my life on this movie.

I enjoyed the songs and I felt they were the only good part of the movie. A.R. Rehman did a great job. You can check them out here at Raaga.com.