Rating: 2.25/5
Banners: Lakshmi Ganapathi Films, Red Giant Movies
Cast: Suriya, Shruti Haasan, Johnny Tri and others
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Cinematographer: Ravi K Chandran
Editing: Antony
Story, screenplay, direction: A R Murugadoss
Producers: Rupesh, Balasubramaniam, Udhayanidhi
Release date: 26/10/2011

The combination of Suriya and director Murugadoss is back and this time they have delved upon a story of the past and the link of science with history. Let us see how good that is.

Story:
In the 16th century, a Pallava king Boddhidharma (Suriya) sets on a journey to China. He is endowed with martial arts, art of healing and also the indomitable control over the five elements.

After reaching China, he heals a village of a sickness and due to the locals belief, he sacrifices his life and is buried there. Cut to the present, there is Aravind (Suriya), a circus artiste who comes across Shuba (Shruti) a genetic research student and falls in love with her. However, Shuba gets friendly with Aravind for a reason. Meanwhile, a Chinese named Dong Lee (Johnny Tri) comes to India and his mission is to kill Shuba.

Who is Aravind? Why Shuba wants to be friendly with him? Why Dong Lee comes to kill Shuba? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Suriya spreads his charm once again and he is all over the film. More than his regular role as Aravind, it was his brief role as Boddhidharma that creates a strong impact.

Shruti Haasan looks naturally beautiful and has a magical glint in her eyes. She has a meaty role and she did justice for that. If she adds few extra pounds she will be very appealing.

Johnny Tri was excellent. His intense eyes and his body language were menacing. Without many dialogues, he conveys the essence of a villain in the right manner.

Dhanya was alright, Guinness Pakru was a little silly, Avinash was apt, Abhinaya was hardly there, Ashwin was alright, Raghavendra came and went. The others didn’t have much to offer.

Highlights:

• Concept of the film
• Suriya’s performance
• Technical and production values
• Climax fight sequence

Drawbacks:

• Slow pace
• Weak romance track
• Dragged sequences
• Lack of intensity and emotional depth
• Music

Analysis:
Murugadoss has mixed a bit of factual history to modern science in this. For starters, he must be really appreciated for coming up with a bold theme and making an attempt to show the great history and great men of our nation. However, there is a fine line between picking up a good concept and executing it with the right voltage. If it was not for Suriya’s aura and the strong technical values, the film would have been bland.

This movie appears to be the idea of an A grade director executed by a B-grade director. Generally people expect something more sensible from Murugudoss. But that lacked here.

First half is ok but the second half got derailed. Murugudoss made vain attempt to bring grip in narration due to lack of proper research. Even Operation Red idea became silly. The climax is very long with 40 minutes and that itself shows how bad the screenplay is.

It can be said that there is no directorial brilliance as the plot was predictable and all that is required was to fill the two hours plus duration. There is no doubt that this is a rather unique storyline in the recent times but if only it was trimmed in the right manner and some dose of emotion and dramatic values were added to it, the film would have been a success.

At the box office, the openings will be good but audience is advised to step into the theatres without high expectations. Overall, this would not make any positive impact at box office. .

Bottomline: Beautiful thought, bad execution

(Venkat can be reached at venkat@greatandhra.com)

Film: Ra.One
Rating: 2/5
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal etc
Music: Vishal Sekhar
Cienamtogrpahy: Nikola Pakorini, Manikandan,
Editing: Sanjay Sharma, Martin Walsh
Producer: Gouri Khan
Story, Screenplay, Direction: Anubhav Sinha
Release Date: 26.10.2011

Expectations have been very high on the biggest budget film in the history of Indian cinema. The promotional stuff eulogized the film as the one that takes Indian film to next level. Trailers also supported well. But it is only the story and narration that plays vital role in deciding the fate of any film, and that is proven again with Ra.One. Let us get into the details.

Story:
Sekhar Subrahmanyam (SRK) is a video game expert. He is very intelligent but timid and behaves insane. His son Prateek (Arman Varma) hates his father for those negative qualities. He wants his father to be like super hero. He suggests that a hero becomes super only when the villain stands strong.

To fulfill his son’s desire, Sekhar designs a new video game in which villain stands very strong with immense powers. He names the villain as Ra.One (Random Access version 1). So, this is a video game version of mythological villain Ravan. He also designs a hero G-One (Good One) to fight with him. There will not be any shape for Ra-One but G-One will have the features of SRK.

Initially Prateek plays the game. He plays for a while and pauses it. But with the auto initiation and ignition, the Ra-One in the game gets materialized and comes into outer world. He creates destruction and also kills Sekhar. His target to kill is Prateek who fights him in video game. Then Pateek brings out G-One from the game. His mission is to save Prateek and Sekhar’s wife (Kareena). Then the fight starts between G-One and Ra-One. Ra-one also takes the shape of an ad model (Arjum Rampal) and attacks G-One. Finally how good wins over bad forms the story.

Performances:
SRK has got no scope to perform histrionics but he has got enough room to show his muscle power. He should be appreciated for portraying such high voltage role in his late forties.

Kareena Kapoor has got little scope to act but she has shown enough mettle within the scope given to her.

Arman did well. Arjun Rampal (Ra One comes into him) did very well and it is sure that his stature gets increased with this portrayal.

Sahana Goswami, Tom Woo, Sateesh Shah and others did well as desired.

Technically, the film stands on the top. This is the best graphics film ever made on Indian screen. Especially the car chase, introduction scenes of Ra-One and G-One stand on the apex in style and presentation. Visual Effects team score full marks.

Cinematography is mind blowing. But the editing lacked sharpness in non-action episodes. Still, the trimming is required on a whole. Vishal Sekhar’s music stands as highlight. Dildara, Chammak Challo songs stand as highlights. Criminal song also runs very vivaciously.

Production values are unbelievably good. But director failed to get trade mark for himself with such wonderful budget. No one brings director in his mind while watching the film.

Highlights:

• Visual Effects
• Cinematography
• Art
• Music

Drawbacks:

• Story
• Screenplay
• Direction

Analysis:
Countless number of super hero films release in Hollywood frequently. But only a few stand as super hits and some become legendary master pieces. It’s not just visual effects but the story and narration play vital role in success. The job that has to be assigned to super hero would be very big and challenging. But here in Ra-One it has become a family affair. A super hero is not required just to save a family member. The major drawback in this film is plot resolution. It fails to pump in enough adrenaline.

It is good to listen to the theme of a super villain and super hero coming out of video game to fight in real time. But that has to be conceived convincingly and powerfully. The situations and scenes would have been powerful enough to make this film more interesting.

It can be said that huge budget got wasted with mediocre story line. Although the graphics are good, they are of no use in making this film a grand success. The film has to be watched without any expectations. If anyone goes for best experience, disappointment becomes inevitable.

Some say that the film will be liked by kids. But the kids like to play video games themselves. They can’t watch somebody playing a foul video game.

Bottom Line: Foul video game

(Venkat can be reached at venkat@greatandhra.com)

Article from : http://www.greatandhra.com/viewnews.php?id=33063&cat=1&scat=12