Okay, so I'm reviewing this keeping in mind two things: 1) Being a Mani Ratnam movie I had a certain level of expectations from the movie, 2) I watched the Hindi dubbed version of the movie.
Although it's commendable that Mani Ratnam touched upon the topic that had been long overlooked by the mainstream movie industry in India, I feel the movie didn't do justice. Perhaps the book has done a way better job.
To begin with, the flow of the story wasn't smooth. Abrupt sequences. The action sequences could have been neat - especially when I compare it with something like Baahubali, RRR or even the recent Kantara which had much neater finish in fight/war sequences. One can easily see the difference.
The casting could have been better. Aishwarya Rai, playing the character of Nandini which appears to be a very key one, seems very out of place. And the one guy who knows good acting, Prakash Raj, doesn't have much screen time.
Another thing which was absurd was this weird fight between the Shaivites and Vaishnavites which doesn't really make sense. From what I know there was friction between Buddhism and Jainism and the rest but the one between Shaivism and Vaishnavism seems out of place - maybe I'm wrong but that's what it seems.
The background score is good but unnecessary loud at some places. It ends up creating noise instead of increasing the impact of what's happening on the screen.
What I liked about the movie was the overall plot but apart from that, it requires much better effort. Hopefully the second part will be better.
Although it's commendable that Mani Ratnam touched upon the topic that had been long overlooked by the mainstream movie industry in India, I feel the movie didn't do justice. Perhaps the book has done a way better job.
To begin with, the flow of the story wasn't smooth. Abrupt sequences. The action sequences could have been neat - especially when I compare it with something like Baahubali, RRR or even the recent Kantara which had much neater finish in fight/war sequences. One can easily see the difference.
The casting could have been better. Aishwarya Rai, playing the character of Nandini which appears to be a very key one, seems very out of place. And the one guy who knows good acting, Prakash Raj, doesn't have much screen time.
Another thing which was absurd was this weird fight between the Shaivites and Vaishnavites which doesn't really make sense. From what I know there was friction between Buddhism and Jainism and the rest but the one between Shaivism and Vaishnavism seems out of place - maybe I'm wrong but that's what it seems.
The background score is good but unnecessary loud at some places. It ends up creating noise instead of increasing the impact of what's happening on the screen.
What I liked about the movie was the overall plot but apart from that, it requires much better effort. Hopefully the second part will be better.