Raavanan - Dus sar wale

It is Mani Ratnam's modern day reproduction of one of the most epic mythological stories.
Having said that, I was a touch disappointed towards the end but we will come back to it later. For one, I felt Mani Ratnam need not have to so strictly stick to the Ramayan story through out like the nose reference to Surpanaka (Priya mani) and Monkey like behavior of Karthik (reference to Hanuman) At least I was happy seeing a slight deviation towards the end.

Vikram really proved as why he was worth the billing. He was splendid throughout. Even though you feel that the movie might fall apart, you can never stop enjoying watching this guy act. He grunts, he shouts, he howls, he says that 'buck buck buck'. He does everything in this movie to make that character work. I can't wait to watch his performance as Dev in the Hindi version.

Prithivi does a decent enough job as a tough cop. No one seems white/black in this movie. Everyone seem to have a gray shade to their character. Dev is not all-good and Veera is definitely not as bad as Raavanan (from the Mythology). Aishwarya justified her role.

One more disappointment was that few songs were never fully shown. Veera veera was part of the initial credits. Kaatu sirukki only had an old lady humming it once in the movie. I wanted to hear Shankar Mahadevan/Anuradha Sriram's version. Only three songs Kodu poatta, Kedakkari and Kalvare had some screen presence. Usire Poghudey had a couple of dialogues in between.

The big plus of the movie was the Cinematography and the camera work (V. Manikandan and Santosh Sivan) which were ably supported by the splendid background score by Rahman.
I have definitely heard a lot of bad reviews for this movie and know that many people felt cheated and disappointed at Mani's work. As I said earlier, it could have been better. But I guess it works for some and doesn't for the rest. Whatever it is, it was definitely worth a watch for Vikram's acting and the way in which a bright and green rural India was shown through out.

And namma makkal inum thirunthavey illa, do you know who got the loudest cheer in the movie? No, not Vikram, not Prithvi, nor Ash. It was Ranjitha!!