Raavana Prabhu
(2001)- Mohanlal, Vasundra Das, Jagathi
Info:
Overall: 3.5 out of 5
The curtain unfolds and the white screen comes to life
with another tale of unabashed fantasy detached from the
day to day realities of life- another Mohanlal film has
begun weaving its intricate magic on the mesmerised
audience. The viewers are transported to the land of
their dreams; where Mohanlal, assisted by a host of
parasites takes law into his own hands with rhetoric
filled confrontations; where dancers led by Kashmira Shah
entice the front benches with saucy lyrics set to frisky
beats; where white sari clad Vasundhara Das, the current
rage of south screen becomes wet revealing her contours
in the heavy downpour showered by the film crew to
provide us a voyeuristic skin show and all the good
Samaritans are reunited to pose for a happy group
photograph at the end. The curtain falls.
The hotshot scenarist Renjith has failed to impress the
audience through his maiden directorial venture, even if
it continues to draw large crowds because of the
electrifying, mesmerising and high voltage presence of
Mohanlal, now a golden goose of the film industry. Since
the audience is fed up with this genre of films, it is
high time Renjith stopped making such ludicrous and
half-baked films, if he values his future as a filmmaker.
Has the Malayali finally fallen prey to the hero worship
syndrome? Mohanlal is deified like MGR, NTR and
Rajnikant, other idols in the neighbouring states. Now
characters are created to suit the image and whims of
Mohanlal without intending to explore the inherent
potentials of this matinee idol whose trump card is
versatility. This shows that the highly film literate
Malayali who has not been swayed by the charm and power
of film actors till now, have started worshipping screen
Gods. When Mohanlal starts out on his dramatic monologues
scripted with meticulous care, it is like a temple oracle
screaming of divine retribution.
Those who remember Mohanlal's mind-blowing performance in
'Devasuram'
will perhaps be dissatisfied with his role in its sequel.
The film is terribly disjointed in the first half,
heaving ahead in staccato like movements. The phenomenal
success of the film 'Devasuram' and the subsequent string
of films made in the same mould prompted him to make a
sequel. At present, there is no one in sight to challenge
the hegemony of Karthikeyan as all villains are bashed
up. But we can't heave a sigh of relief. Due to the
dearth of villains, he may not stage a come back in the
near future. The menace still remains unabated because we
cannot rule out two possibilities- Karthikeyan's son may
closely follow the footsteps of his grand father and the
audience craving for this ludicrous stuff will definitely
have children with their traits. However, the debutant
director Renjith will be forced to stop making films when
he has to accept the fact that the synonyms for Lord Siva
do not remain anymore and almost all of it has already
been used to name the larger than life hero.
Directed by Renjith
Music by Suresh Peters
Lyrics by Girsih Putenchery
Produced by Antony Perumbavoor
Songs sung by: Yesudas, Chithra, Sujatha, MG Sreekumar,
Jayachandran, Radhika Thilak, Nikhil, Prabhakaran,
Mohanlal
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