Ravanan Malayalam Movie
After wild animals like The Tiger and Lion, it's now the turn of Ravanans. There are two of them currently wooing movie buffs in Kerala. If one is Ravanan because of the film being shot entirely in Sri Lanka, and the lead character being called Sraavan, the other film's name itself is Ravanan, because the lead character of the film has the brains of the ten-headed Ravan.
Kalabhavan Mani plays the role of Ravanan Varghese John, a senior I P S officer of the Crime Branch who has been specially deputed to solve two high profile murders. Mani tries to do a Ben Johnson again. The maiden directorial venture by Jojo K Varghese however, fails to have any impact, apart from projecting Mani as viable and less expensive action hero executing stunts with the aid of the rope. The camera taps Mani's muscular look from different angles, thanks to his skin-tight costumes. He also gets some punch-line dialogues.
Several members of the cast are wasted, including Megha Jasmine, the elder sister of Meera, who however, has a long way to go to match the histrionic talents of her sister. If she thinks her looks can compensate for deficiencies in her screen presence, she'd better think again. Madhu Warrier can be happy his role turns out to be a bit serious towards the fag end of the film. He has improved his acting skills, especially in the song sequence and the emoting scenes.
Jagathy is his usual comic self and leaves the audience in splits. He takes a dig at Mammootty, imitating his accent a la Rajamanikyam. Sreejith Ravi, son of T G Ravi, has more footage in Ravanan than he had in Lion, but footage isn't all that counts.
Most departments put up just average performance. Background score by Rajamani does add tempo to the story telling. The editing though crisp could have been better. One foot tapping number by M Jayachandran is the only relief for music lovers. Final verdict: Two and half hours of time pass and nothing more.
