Movie Review: Rajneeti & Raavan

Two fine directors made the modern day version of the epics of Mahabharat and Ramayan . Jha does not seem to pay anything to the epic but Ratnam gives the credit in the title itself.Both shares the ideology that there's no 'good' winning over 'evil'.
. Rashtravadi party is the main political front of M.P. The story starts when the leader has a paralytic attack just days before an election .He chooses his brother over his son for the chairmanship of the party for being more experienced. The son Veerendra Pratap (Manoj Bajpai) with help of a dalit leader Sooraj (Ajay Devgan) kills his uncle and the battle of power starts between the two family's youngsters.In this Mahabharat the writer doesnot take any side. Nana Patekar plays the role of Shakuni mama and krishn simultaneously and it becomes harder to see which side can be called of the Pandavs as everyone is casted in a negative shade. Rajneeti is more of a family feud with only a political background. The only way shown to get onto the chair is to murder the leader of the opposition. In about a week the parties had to change their Chief Ministerial Candidates more than 5 times!! The excellent performances by Manoj Bajpai, Ajay Devgan, Ranbir kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Nana Patekar overshadows the direction and cloaks the otherwise loud story.The movie is entertaining all the way and can be seen without complaints.

When it comes to Raavan some of the scenes of Ramayan are forced upon the story. Beera kidnaps a cop's wife to take revenge of all the misdeeds of police but enchanted by her beauty falls in love with the captive. The movie is very slow in the first half but speeds up in the second to give all the reasons for the kidnap and to show the insides of Beera's dwelling. He is regarded as the king and the saviour of the poor. The scenes largely gives the feeling of naxalite problem in India. Some of the characters like of Sanjeevani (Govinda) are thrusted upon to show the resemblance with Ramayan so much so that he is shown climbing down the trees and go and meet Sita sitting under a tree awaiting his Ram. The lanka is not made up of gold but yet magnificient with waterfalls and forests.Sita is beautiful, fearless and is portrayed as the 'epitome of female purity and virtue' but yet consolidated and independent in her choices. On being asked for agneepariksha she prefers living with Raavan who did not even touch her despite being cruel and powerful. Aishwarya is excellent , Ratnam explores the silent Valley forest reserves and the hoggenakkal waterfall of the south which were till now hidden to bollywood and virgin to other economic activities. The mesmerizing locations with an intoxicating music leaves you with a refreshing experience.
P.S: For all the rahmaniacs there is a beautiful unreleased song at the end sung by the maestro himself.

Abke saawan aise barse...

Bhuwan and the fellows are pleading to the clouds for the much awaited rains on the parched land of Champaner .In the other flick Nargis, with her children carrying the plough,is trying hard to persuade the villagers not to leave the flooded village as it is their mother land. These scenes may have nominated two hindi movies for the academy awards but the harsh truth is that the scenes are depiction of real situation of Indian framers.60% of the Indian agricultural land is dependent on rains. Every year either the droughts or the floods kill the production. Last year more than 50% of India faced deficient while 9% had the excess rains. The major food and commercial crops like rice, pulses, peanuts, soybeans and cotton get largely effected.
The villages may eagerly be waiting for the season but city like Mumbai wants to prepare itself for the heavy rains against the backdrop of bad infrastructure. Even if we forget the july'05 heavy floods in Mumbai the monsoons every year disrupts the life of the cities. Public transport comes to a halt. Trains and flights get cancelled. The government stands with their hands-up to tell the voters that the monsoons are not controlled by them and hence cannot do anything for the failure of the system.In the north the capital is waiting for the rains so that the mercury comes down and the power cuts get over. But a slight heavy rain again disrupts the railways and transportation. Last year when IGI airport got flooded the blame game started and finally Mrs. Sheila Dikshit came out defending everyone and blamed Indra Dev for the menace. People still want to know if the rains can ever be heavier enough to have a water-logging inside an international airport.
Every year Orissa faces the storms ,Bihar battles the floods and U.P demands money for the drought affected regions.The Indian economy being heavily dependent on monsoon keeps an eye on the IMD forecasts .A 'normal' monsoon is likely to boost the produce and bring down the inflation. If the rains do not disturb Kosi then Bihar may stay focused on its road to development.
It may take years to develop a good infrastructure of roads and canals in India but till then the blue billion keep their hopes high and wish for themselves a Happy Monsoon.