Raavan Vs Rajneeti

This June Bollywood witnessed modernized versions of two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.

While Rajneeti, the Political saga in the lines of Mahabharata has won the box-office, Raavan which is the inverted Ramayana has just got the mediocre response…

Let’s have a Quick look…what worked well for both…and what did not!!

Refurbished Epics:

Prakash Jha, the director of Rajneeti conveyed the rivalry between the step sons cleverly relating every character to that in one of the largest epics. The struggle for power and the animosity between the siblings is the same that has been prevailing with the ages. So references to Mahabharata enhanced the director’s vision in revealing the dark side and inner view of the political families. Audiences were of similar joy when we could solve ‘Match the following’ puzzle, while they could grasp those references.

ManiRatnam on other hand made a bold version of Ramayana, Where Raavan is shown as idol, While Ram is belittled in the eyes of Sita. This kind of inversion is no doubt was sort of variety to the audience. Moreover as the Ramayan is told several times on the screen, there would have been no point in Maniratnam driving the original story again.

So Basic Content wise both are equally good….

Characters and Actors:

People say Raavan in original is no bad but circumstances made him look like that. Even in Ramayan, no where we had something to say that Raavan tortured Sita. She was left to her wish and Raavan waited patiently for her. In the Movie too, Raavan(Beera) is shown as a loyal leader of his tribe and his kidnapping Sita(Raagini) was only to avenge Police officer Rama(Dev) for his sister’s(Priyamani) death who eventually is sexually abused by the police. In her short tenure with Ravan, sita could visualize brighter side of the evil and at the same time devilish side of the good.

Abhishek is good as Raavan…and Aishwarya was no less than the celestial goddess. Vikram is limited in Hindi,while he was brilliant in southern version...and Priyamani makes her mark.

Coming to Rajneeti, We see Arjun Rampal as DharmaRaj and Ranbir Kapoor as Arjun. But these guys are not as ideal as Pandava’s. While Age old DharmaRaj could not even lie properly when he says “Aswaddama ‘hatah kunjara ha’”...Arjunrampal is shown as brutal murderer and a womanizer. Even Ranbir was shown as the master mind that is corrupted and calculative.Interesting part is AjayDevagan (lower caste leader) as Karna and he is befriended by ManojBajPai (Duryodhan) .While Karna’s father is Chariot Driver; he is shown as car driver here. Remember Karna’s chariot gets stuck in mud in the war, and here Ajay’s Car is seen broke down in the climax. Katrina is the modern age Draupadi who loves Ranbir but need to marry Arjunrampal in the same way as the Draupadi is shared by all five brothers.

What worked…What did not?

It was the gripping screenplay and punch packed performances by all the actors that worked really well for Rajneeti. Though Lengthy and is filled with lot of characters, the movie manages to keep the pace till the Climax.Ranbir scores more than anyone .

On the Flip side the dialog were so dramatic that the actors felt as if they were enacting BRchopra’s Classical soap just wearing modern outfits. When Kunti calls Karna as “Jyesta Putra”, there were couple of laughs in theater. Also the serial killings in short span of election campaign with neither post investigations nor the hard feelings was quite unnatural.

It was Cinematography by Santosh Sivan that worked wonders for Raavan. Each frame is a visual feast on its own. The locations chosen for the forests and the steep hills were all amazing. The Pre-Climax fight on the wooden bridge is delight to watch. While music might not have created magic, but is good enough.

The characters in Raavan were not so strong and failed to make a resemblance with the epic. There was no curiosity factor and no attachment of the audience in a much predictable and simple plot.

Final Verdict:

The Engaging narration and the honest portrayals worked great for Rajneeti. As we discussed earlier the epic resemblance worked here well. Raavan which was technically great could appeal to only fewer set of audience.

So if you are for serious drama, Rajneeti is safe bet. But if you could admire the technical aspects, Raavan stands out.

Ratings:

Rajneeti stands little above 3 and Raavan is little below 3.