Raavan (2022)

Raavan Is Ram Mukherjee Raavan in disguise? Raavan (transl. Evil) is a 2022 Indian Bengali-language action thriller film directed by MN Raj and produced by Jeet, Gopal Madnani and Amit Jumrani under the banner of Jeetz Filmworks. It stars Jeet, Lahoma Bhattacharya and Tanusree Chakraborty.

You have seen such films before and you will watch similar films in future, especially if you are a fan of south cinema. What you haven’t seen though is the blood and gore and almost impeccable action sequences in a Bengali film. At least in recent times.
Evidently, Raavan is an expensive film and the sophisticated action sequences, makeup, aesthetics and song sequences reflect that. But this film is not for the faint-hearted. It celebrates the kind of unfiltered violence one gets to see in south blockbusters. It has flying cars, thrilling chases and full-on action. What it lacks though is a convincing storyteller and dialogue writer, who could have made the journey a little more enjoyable. One recurring dialogue may linger even after the film gets over: “Raavan khhoma kore ditey shuru korle Ramayan abar notun kore likhte hobe (If Raavan starts practising forgiveness, Ramayana will have to be rewritten).”
Raavan is Jeet’s film and naturally he takes up lion’s share of the screen time — sometimes as media studies professor Ram (unconvincingly), and sometimes as vigilante Raavan. Jeet champions Raavan with the makeup, hair, contact lens, costume and action.
On screen, we see two parallel storylines – Ram falling in love with his student Rai (Lahoma Bhattacharya), and Raavan going on a brutal killing spree, making life hell for the police force. Tough police officer Jahan (Tnusree Chakraborty) gets the responsibility of capturing Raavan, though her senior officer Rajiv (Shataf Figar) disapproves.
The film starts with a bang with the introduction of Raavan. However, with Ram and Rai’s bland romance, the first half of the film remains by and large uninteresting. The happy family life of Ram also seems to be forced. In fact, Raavan’s presence on screen eclipses Jeet as Ram. On the other hand, Jeet pulls off the character of ruthless Raavan with elan. He practically sets the screen on fire every time he makes an entry. As a result, the second half becomes gripping with the high-decibel action peaking.
While action is the strength of the film, the romance looks pretty underwhelming and the comedy is unbearable. The characters of Kharaj Mukhopadhyay and Biswanath Basu are unconvincing and unnecessary. Lahoma looks pretty on screen but she fails to make any kind of impact with her dancing and acting skills, which matter in this genre. Tnusree and Shataf look dashing as police officers, there is no build up for the police force. Apart from these two, the force appears to be unprepared and unintentionally funny. Apart from Raavan’s character, that’s curated with care, no other character, even the bunch of bad men, has received any attention from the makers.
All in all, Raavan is for those who love action and have an appetite for violence. Such brutality is not often seen in the Bengali film spectrum. The technicians and fight masters have done a good job. Hence, even if Jeet as Ram fails, Jeet as Raavan will not let them down.