Raavan review / spoiler

Here's the breakdown -

Good things:

• The subverted myth of Raavan and Ram. The story plays to an extent with the idea that mythology portrays one as a god and the other as a demon. There's a brave attempt to bring in shades of grey. Raavan respects women and is a poet and Ram isn't above a bit of sniper shooting. Incidents associated with Ram start happening with Raavan, or maybe just the one incident - I was honestly impressed with how the Lanka burning was replaced by Dev's camp burning. Another charming trick was to make Surpanakha a sweetie. Overall, I am all for the attempt to tell the story from Raavan's POV.
• The film looked great, albeit somewhat damp. Was it shot in.. Pandora?!? (Kinda makes sense, as Ram was an 'Avatar' of Vishnu no? HA. HA.) Seriously, the scene in the forest clearing under the tall white skinned trees where Dev / Ram decides he isn't actually ready to swap Beera's amnesty for poor dear Sita's life and honour, jerks you back to the IMAX.
• the music is excellent. Rehman, expectedly, delivers. Kata Kata is my personal favourite. The heavy beats get into my flesh, and I wobble in rhythm.
• The general psycho look and mannerisms of Small B are cool. This is done through face paint, him making faces, in silhouette, in close-ups, and of course through the Lakme Kaajal he never leaves the make up room without.

Bad things:

• Aishwarya Rai. Always Aishwarya. Priyamani was a stunning actor by comparison.
• there are several anachronisms, several slow periods, and generally bad sound editing during speech.
• The weakest point is the very naive portrayal of good-hearted bandits, blech! That seems to have been the only way to overturn the good versus evil polarisation. gah!
• Like Roja and Dil Se, Rehman seems to have been commissioned to write 15 songs before the plot was written, as a result of which the film builds itself around the songs and dance bits. The bits were fun, but very against the grain most of the time.
• The entire Aishwarya Rai flumping-into-the-water sequence, and Raavan becoming obsessed with it and falling for her more or less as a result of it. C'mon, gangster king, pull yourself together!

On the whole, someone (Mani Ratnam?) had a cool generic idea. Lets reinterpret the Ramayan. In fact lets switch it around halfway through the tale. Then they got a brilliant graphics team who did wonders with various face shots of Small B. They bought tickets to Ooty, some awesome falls in Kerela, a gorgeous forest in Kartanaka, (and to the land of Pandora). And then probably spent the rest of their creative energies in trying to get the Bacchans to show up for work, do their lines, look just like they always do, etc.

Too harsh? I don't think so. Think what Vishal would have done with it... Sigh.