Viewed: RANN

Old habits die hard they say and it sure seem to be true with Ram Gopal Varma. He tackles an interesting subject - role of media in our times but the telling founders with a story that delves into excessive melodrama and in the typical use of his tools - acting, camera and music.


Whose Story Is It?
Of media. Yes. Of various protagonists. Sure. But does it work? Anyway...they are more of players than the protagonist/s.

It's a tough one - showcasing various point of views. It's helluva task to tell a good story from one point of view and taking on a challenge of various point of views calls for supreme mastery of craft, which enables a good telling of the story.

It could be said that the story is of the media with various players yet...you go on a journey with either one or many. As such there needs to be some semblance of coherence, unless incoherence is the very purpose, which is definitely not the purpose here.

The film is not too random. You know what the story is trying to be - some good guys, some bad guys, the corruption of our world and the battle between the good and evil. The issue is in the telling and in the key answer - it's a story of many folks, which is never a good news since it's too much of an endeavor to take.


The Flow
Is the story being told with all cohesiveness? This requires good integration of various elements, which not only is at backfoot considering the various point of views but the way the tools are being used. Music is excessive, which remains the case with most of Ramu's flicks and well most Bollywood flicks; it's like saying - we know we are not good to evoke emotions through the story, so...we shall utilize this medium to make you feel as you ought to.

So your senses are kind of bombarded and with other aspects too like utilization of camera. It seems that since Sarkar, Ramu has fallen in love with the close-ups (which per se may not be a bad thing) but also with overuse of angles and shot-taking. Is it helping in telling the story? Well..I can't discern much.

Example - There is conflict within some family scenes and Ramu uses hand-held to denote that bit. However...it calls too much attention to itself and it's not done too smoothly.

Ramu has also professed his love for AB's acting. He does use the silence effectively at times but it doesn't work all the time with his stressful camera-work. Of course, one needs to utilize AB's voice too and...we have long monologue, which is supposed to essay the ills of our times and highlight the plight.

Well...that's precisely what the story should have done.


Rating *1/2

[Max Rating ****]


[Viewed on Mac at Chembur on 24th March, 2010; thanks to Ankur]