Movie Review: Raavan - Kata Bechara Bakara

Genre: Action/ Romance
Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Govinda, Priyamani 

It took two years to complete this movie. Am still reeling from the shock, disappointment, anger et al felt while viewing Raavan. Two years?? It takes two years to make drivel like dis? And I thought Bollywood was slowly but surely catching up with Hollywood...

For the tourists, you get treated to two hours of sheer visual delight with breath taking landscapes, amazing shots and excellent camera work. For the movie goers, looking for a decent script, plot etc, start watching the movie in the second half. The first half makes no sense watsoever. So you start off proceedings with an animal-like Beera character (played by Abhishek Bachan) who cackles and shouts at will and is seemingly enraged over something, that you need to wait till the second half to understand. Meanwhile, Aishwarya Rai as the kidnapped maiden and wife of the SP (who is hell bent on catching Beera) seems to have the easiest job in the world - she has to have both hands tied, make sure her eyes are red at all times (still not sure why that was required) and scream and shout at all and sundry. Just for the record, I just condensed 70 minutes of the first half of the movie in one paragraph. Meanwhile, the song and dance routine continues with 3 songs packed into the first half itself. The movie intervals with the song - kata kata bechara bakara..and one is only too consciously aware who the bakara is at this point.

Thankfully, the movie picks up its act in the second half where the story finally gets revealed. One begins to understand the character of Beera and why he acts the way he does, why he has kidnapped Aishwarya and the plot finally begins to fall in place. It is only the last 20 minutes that really deliver what the movie promised, the only time that the audience is left guessing as to what turn the movie would take, who Aishwarya would really end up with and whether this really is a tale of love. If only, the rest of the movie had been crafted so painstakingly with curious twists and turns, there was so much potential..

Alas, Raavan is far from the thrill-ride it promised to be. The plot is very predictable and twists and turns, few and far between. Even the leads, don't deliver a dynamite performance, though, to be fair, they both have very little room to. Abhishek, surprisingly, doesn't really fit the character of Beera and is loud and over-bearing. Aishwarya, though she looks pretty as ever, doesn't get to do more than scream and shout. Though I haven't actually timed it, I think Govinda's character possibly has the maximum air-time and dialogues. As the forest guard (playing a pseudo 'Hanuman' role) who accompanies the SP, he is in his element and provides much required comic relief in the film

So unless you are going for the scenery and landscapes, or are really eager to hear shrill screams & shouts in surround sound, I suggest you stay clear from this one...