The film starts in the picturesque location of ‘Lal Mati’ where ‘Raagini’ (Aishwarya Rai) , the wife of the newly appointed Superintendent of Police ‘Dev’ (Vikram) is kidnapped by the infamous Beera (of course, Abhishek Bachhan) and the chase begins. Beera is a truly mysterious character, he is considered to be ‘Robin Hood’ for the weak and the distressed and ‘Ravaan’ for the oppressors of the villagers. He is believed to be a phantom who can exist in more than one place at one time and is skilled in multiple fortes. Beera takes Raagini deep into the forests of ‘Lal Mati’ to kill her within 14 hrs as revenge for a heinous crime committed by the police in the past. Beera is accompanied by his two brothers and a host of other followers.
But as is the case, Beera, impressed with the fearlessness of the fiery Raagini, falls in love with her and asks her to marry him. Raagini is not impressed and makes multiple attempts to escape but fails every time in outrunning the mysterious Beera. Dev launches a search operation in the deep forests and is helped by the forest guard ‘Sanjeevani’ (Govinda). They go deep into the forests but fail to trace the whereabouts of Beera. Beera in turn mocks the police force by plundering their camps and stealing their weapons. Meanwhile, Raagini, in captivity, learns in details about the lifestyles of these so called bandits. She also learns about various aspects of Beera’s character and also the real reason why Beera is looking forward to take revenge on the police authorities.
Meanwhile, Sanjivani manages to trace the location of Raagini but gets captured in the process. Beera’s clan is sick of running in the forests and is keen on making peace with the police in order to end the bloodshed. Beera’s brother is sent along with Sanjivani to initiate peace process and negotiate Raagini’s release. But Dev kills him and ends the possibility of any peace talks. Beera in an outrage destroys the police camp and confronts Dev. The events that follow lead to a ‘not so unexpected’ ending.
There is a lot of confusion as to what the director really had to portray in the film.The storyline has an uncanny resemblance to the epic ‘Ramayana’. Here too, Sita(Raagini) is kidnapped by the demon Raavana(Beera) and lord Ram (Dev) goes in search for his wife and is assisted by his trusted friend Hanuman (Sanjeevani). Beera is an outlaw and he and his clan can also be compared to the naxalities who are proving to be a hard nut to crack these days. The main theme of the movie is a bit vague because storyline doesn’t indicate if the movie is an adaptation of Ramayana or about Naxalism or about individual conflicts between the lead characters of the movie.
Abhishek Bachhan does not impress with his acting skills. Through his mannerisms, we are left guessing if he is a psycho or suffering from multiple personality disorder. Ten personalities to be exact to prove his resemblance with ‘Raavana’. Vikram is average. Govinda and Ravikishan have small roles but they do their job well. Aishwarya’s power-packed performance is the highlight of this movie. This is her first movie since last two years and it’s really a pleasure to see her in her element. The stunts in the forest backgrounds are also excellent.
The cinematography is excellent and forests of ‘Lal Mati’ resemble a lot like the ‘Amazon’ rain forests. The damp, wet surroundings and the villages of the tribals deep in the forests are real treat to the eyes. The background score is excellent and the songs are good with the traditional Rehman touch. Overall, it’s a onetime watch for the excellent camera work and for Aishwarya Rai.
Conclusively, the adaptation of ‘Mahabharata’ was much better than ‘Ramayana’.
Ratings : 2 stars out of 5
Review by: Abhijit Ranade
