First things first, there was no particular reason this movie needed to be titled Ram Leela. It has nothing to do with the original epic and while arbitrary references are made, none of them were critical to tell this particular story – if you can see a story in it that is. All I saw was a two and a half hours of Indian folk dance (with some mindless Priyanka Chopra item song included) with decent music and ostentatious visuals. There isn’t even a semblance of a plot and to look for any depth is pointless, the surface itself would leave a mark if you scratched it the slightest.
A good 15 years back, 10 songs in a two and a half hour movie might’ve been just the way to go. Since we are now in 2013, that alone isn’t enough – not by a long margin. Unfortunately Mr. Bhansali seems oblivious to the same. While Ram Leela claims to be inspired from the classic love story of Romeo & Juliet (which incidentally is also something I haven’t seen) I doubt if that original classic would’ve had such a banal plot and shallow characters. So pathetic is the character development that Leela almost comes across as a nymphomaniac for all the build up there is between her and Ram – there was better build up in Ishaqzaade for crying out loud and that itself says a lot.
I am stumped that somebody amongst the elite film critics has given such drivel a whopping 5 stars!! Me, I am struggling between half a star and if possible, three-fourths of one. If I have to give the film any credit at all, it would go only to the nicely choreographed songs and beautiful, picturesque set pieces. That, and perhaps the strong performance of Ranvir Singh, despite the quality of everything else and the imminently watchable Deepika Padukone
Much has been said in the open media of the sparkling chemistry between the two leads – most of which I don’t agree with. Instead, I would definitely say that Deepika looks prettier in every frame, her facial expression just right. However, she lacks the intensity and pure fire power her kind of character (at least what I assume was intended as her character) demanded. On the other hand, Ranvir does possibly the best job of them all and tries his level best to lift the weak script and bad writing.
Speaking of writing, I have a bad feeling that some of it was contributed by Sajid Khan himself as there were plenty of grimace worthy dialogues, or jokes if you will. The one or two scenes that could otherwise have stood out are given such a weak context that it doesn’t even seem like the work of a veteran. Plot twists and story development has holes that our laughably obvious to all except Mr. Bhansali, evidently
Devdas gave me a headache and I haven’t seen the debacle called Saawariya. If you are a die hard Bhansali fan and believe that it is I who hasn't appreciated the movie despite it having a lot to offer, by all means – go see for yourself. In my books though, the only relation to any kind of an epic this movie holds is that it is an epic disaster. I couldn’t have been more obvious about it
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