Yet another ROMEO JULIET from Bollywood !
Had seen Ram Leela few months back, on the day it was released, and though I liked the movie,I was kind of put off by the foul language used in it and so as a revolt to it, I did on write on the movie. But could not write off a all time love epic, re created by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, so saw it again recently.
Ram Leela is yet another mega movie from Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the true dream merchant of Bollywood. The movie, based on the all time famous love epic, Romeo Juliet, has all the ingredients of a Bhansali movie ,love, sorrow, color, dance and music and forces the audience to be reminded of his earlier movies like, Devdas, Dil De Chuke and Sawariyaan. Sanjay has very beautifully and subtly blended the story of Godfather too, in his re narration of Romeo Juliet.
The story revolves around five hundred years old enmity between Rajadis and Saneras, two neighboring clans of Gujrat, dealing in illegal trade of weapons and other underworld activities. The Romeo , Ram is the son of the head of Rajadis and Leela, the Juliet is daughter of the lady Don of Saneras. As expected they fall in love and elope but are traced and brought back to re ignite the enmity and initiate a chain of attacks from each of them on the other leading to a lot of deaths from both clans. During a plot to kill Ram, Leela’s cousin shoots her mother instead with an intension to take over the clan. He however fails in his plans, as the lady Don survives and Leela takes over the command of Saneras. The cousin, under forged instructions from Leela, initiates a shootout on Rajadis, who retaliate, leading to a massacre and molestation of ladies. The widowed daughters in law of the two clans convince the Don Godmother to end this goliyoon ki raasleela (ballet of bullets).But sadly, as the story was destined to be, while all agree to end the enmity and get the two lovers married, Ram and Leela ,unaware of this compromise, shoot each other !
The movie is out and out a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie, full of splendor, grandeur and fervor and his unique art of storytelling of celebrating sorrow and tragedy in romance. His movies are known to be solely his, but this is one exception where a significant credit goes to Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. Deepika has given her best performance till now and may be her most powerful role from her future films too. Sanjay has successfully brought out her sensuality and beauty along with a memorable display of histrionics. Ranbir, too has exhibited superb acting as a raunchy Romeo and has emerged as a spectacular dancer all set to give Hrithik,Shahid and Ranbir a run for their money. Ranveer has once again declared his claim for the top rank in male leads in the present generation and has become the heart throb of girls and guys alike as a trend setter, from this movie, especially in dance steps. Besides being good individually, the two have presented a sizzling chemistry together and actually succeeded in setting the screen on fire with their bold and hot love scenes. Supriya Pathak is highly impressive as the Godmother and it is not only her most memorable performance till now but may be the best portrayal of a LadyDon in Hindi cinema. Priyanka Chopra was entertaining and welcome in her item number and added significantly to the glamour of the movie.All other actors have done justice to their roles and its good of Bhansali to give many TV actors roles in this film.
The movie is a nice indianised adaption of two powerful stories, with good screen play and fast flow and exciting spontaneity. The violence could have been decreased but luckily it was portrayed in Bhansalis unique unoffensive and non horrifying way to the extent that even the floating dead bodies appeared just out of a ramp show. Dialogues were good, entertaining, witty and impressive but I was put off by the cheap use of double meaning words and phrases. The language was slightly offensive and unwarranted, especially for a Bhansali movie. Background score is excellent and music enchanting. Songs are melodious and hummable, with ang laga le,ram chahe leela,dhool baaje and lahu mooh lag gaya, all becoming very popular. There is however some resemblance of the music with his earlier movies, like Dil de chuke sanam. With bigger than life sets, colorful costumes, and an aesthetic blend of taste ,perfection and erotica, the movie is a treat to the eye and a poetry on celluloid. With superb direction and sharp editing complimented with cinematography of a very high standard, the overall impact of the movie is of utmost impressive splendor.
Ram Leela is overall an magnificent and brilliant movie, definitely not to be missed.
Brig Sanjay Kapoor VSM ,New Delhi