Film
Raavanan
ராவணன்
2010
About
A retelling of the Ramayana from Raavan's point of view — a tribal outlaw abducts a police officer's wife after his sister is wronged, and the line between villain and hero dissolves. Vikram plays the volatile Veera with terrifying physicality; Aishwarya Rai is the captive who begins to understand her captor. Shot simultaneously in Hindi as Raavan.
Video Essay
Why This Matters
Raavanan is Mani Ratnam's most formally radical film — a Ramayana that refuses to assign its values the way the myth does. Vikram's Veera is chaotic, wronged, and alive; the 'hero' is cold and cruel. A. R. Rahman's forest-drenched score and the Western Ghats locations make it one of the most visually distinctive Indian films of its decade.
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