‘Raavan’
SPOILERS
Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’ is a modern reinterpretation of the ‘Ramayana.’ Ravana is a forest-dwelling Naxalite. Rama is a top cop, Sita his wife. In a fit of inspired casting, Govinda’s Hanuman is a mischievous, drunkard forest guard.
There’s a great scene with intense art direction where Sita earns Ravana’s respect by jumping off a waterfall ‘Fugitive’-style rather than letting him shoot her.
The story flips two big things about the North Indian ‘Ramayana.’ One, Rama is an asshole far beyond the sexist trial by fire, and Ravana is the noble one. Fine, Tamilians and Sri Lankans would and do believe this :) (Hanuman doesn’t burn Lanka here, and the demoness whose nose was cut off is turned into an innocent bride in the movie).
But two, Sita is inexplicably emotionally unfaithful to Rama, falling for Ravana in a sort of Stockholm syndrome and choosing to stay with him. This annoyed me to no end, as Sita is a deep cultural archetype of loyalty.
The weird thing is, Ratnam’s trying to fight sexism with sexism. His Aishwarya-Sita is fairly weak and weepy, he’s bending to the Hindi film market. And Ratnam’s audacious in doing a Hindi version — there are three in different languages — which flips the North Indian myth using two leading Bolly actors. Apparently audiences stayed away this weekend partly over this reversal.
I remember Ratnam being a better filmmaker than this, but he’s fallen to endless 360-degree shots around characters Indian serial-style, and explication for idiots. Lots of howling at the wind, bad depiction of mental illness and such. Supposedly the Tamil version is better. And let’s not talk about Ham, son of Ham. The last flick Abhishek was tolerable in was ‘Guru.’
The Sita twist felt like finding out a childhood confidante was a crack ho. It made me sad, even though both versions are just stories. Still knocks me for a loop when I think about it.
I’m waiting for the ‘Sin City Ramayana’ where Rama swears and Lakshman packs heat :)
Nice to see your post :). I hear you on your second point..a bitter-sweet reflection of cultural conditioning?
Relapse :)
No doubt! For that matter, I got unexpectedly sniffly after finishing Sanjay P’s ‘Divine Loophole.’ The conditioning runs deep.
Watched a clip. Looked like the M.I.A video for Sunshowers. Saw another clip, of Abhishek overacting. I’ll give it a miss.
However, it sounds like a good idea to flip and contemporise the Ramayana.
Manish I admired your steely decision to go cold turkey over blog entries. But I’m happy you’ll make exceptions.
About Raavan, I’ve read the good and bad reviews. I think I’ll like the movie mostly because I don’t know the Ramayan story. What I learnt on my grandmothers lap is long forgotten. From what I’m sensing, people (North Indians) were expecting the Ramayan, instead they got Raavan. Sita has always annoyed me no end and Aiswarya too but maybe the cinematography will compensate for all this.
Anti-majoritarianism is the staple diet of Indian ‘intellectuals’ and ‘litterateurs’, and nothing has been easier after Independence than abusing Hindu gods.
Calling Rama, an asshole is a measure of how much our Left-lib ‘intelligentsia’ has gone forward in its ‘progressive’ ways.
There is a weak link in this story of brilliant intellectualism of Indian intellectuals however. I bet, they will never be able to summon courage, even from the depths of their wells of courage, to use the same adjectives for Muhammad as they use about the Hindu gods.
That’s where this flimsy dream of Indian Secularism shatters like glass.
@Pankaj: You misread the paragraph, then reacted based on the wrong country’s political dogma. Can’t wait for your followup sir.