Raavanan — Veera Veera Veera...

Raavanan — an overall visual feast.
After watching a movie that claimed to take off from the Mahabharata and found it apt to go back to the epic whenever it suited the script, Raavanan was much better.
Set in the rainforests of Kerala, with glorious waterfalls to keep company, and Vikram sizzling the screen with his performance, what more can you ask for. It was a two-and-a-half hour visual delight.
I'm a Vikram fan, so don't blame me if you watch the movie and fail to get impressed. I loved it. And I lapped it up. And I intend to watch it again in Hindi tomorrow to compare the performances of the Tamil and Hindi cast. Ok, I know Abhishek does not stand a chance in front of Vikram and the trailers have proved that amply. But the rest of the Tamil cast was good and a revelation.
The miserable wet blanket was Prithviraj, who played Dev, the policeman whose wife Ragini (Aishwary) gets abducted by Veera (Vikram).
Veera is a tribal chief, who takes on the power-that-be to become a demi-god for his people. The policemen, corrupt and ruthless, face the brunt of his wrath until Dev comes to terminate him. The two take on each other and in the course of events, Veera kidnaps Dev's Sita and takes her to his forest abode. The 14 days that follow set the background for the story.
Aishwarya, though predictably plastic in the first few scenes, makes up in the rest. Prabhu in the role of Vikram's elder brother and dear old Karthik, whom I'm watching in a movie after ages, and who plays the Hanuman-like forest guard, did a good job. A commendable performance was of Vikram's sister, played by award-winning actress Priyamani. I heard she is repeated in the Hindi version too and has done equally well.
What I loved best, besides Vikram of course, was the beginning. Mani Ratnam got right down to the story without creating a long-winding prelude. The story unfolds gradually.
Though the movie seemed jumpy in parts and some scenes seemed to be added after a later consideration, for instance the treatment of Lakshman-like cop Hemanth who was Dev's right-hand man and the Hanuman-meets-Sita-under-the-Ashoka-tree scene.
The abduction of Ragini, with the underwater shot of a boat crashing, the shot where she jumps into the waterfall and the misty mountains and waterfalls are a must-watch.
Not just Raavan's, Ram's grey shades are also brought out beautifully in the film. And now I'm running out of time.
Please watch it. And please, please, please....if you MUST watch it in Hindi, don't judge the movie before watching it in Tamil.