Raavanan (2010 film) (2025)

Raavanan is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language epic action-adventure film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Mani Ratnam.The film stars Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Prithviraj Sukumaran with a supporting cast led by Karthik, Prabhu Ganeshan and Priyamani. It marked Aishwarya Rai’s return to Tamil after a decade gap, since her last Tamil film, Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000). The film follows the crux of the epic Ramayana, with a ruthless police officer on the chase to find a tribal leader and lawbreaker, who has kidnapped his wife. Veeraiya, the kidnapper, and his motive for the kidnap has been led on by the death of his sister, as a result of police custodial torture and brutal rape. The film explores the search by the officer, whilst exploring the changing emotions that the three protagonists experience with each other, leading to a riveting climax, situated in the jungle. This film is based on Stockholm syndrome.

Raavanan was announced in February 2008, amidst much hype of the celebrated director, Mani Ratnam's return to Tamil films, whilst Vikram's and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's casting creating more anticipation. Shooting began soon after, and took place in various locations with a record number of extras in areas including Chalakudy, Kerala and Ooty, Tamil Nadu amongst other regions throughout India. The film's music was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics written by Vairamuthu, the cinematography was handled by V. Manikandan and Santhosh Sivan, and editing done by A. Sreekar Prasad.

The film was also made simultaneously in Hindi as Raavan, with Abhishek Bachchan reprising Vikram's role and Vikram playing the antagonist, while Aishwarya Rai reprises her role from the original. Furthermore, the film was dubbed in Telugu as Villain. All the three versions were released simultaneously on 18 June 2010 worldwide.

Plot[]

The film opens with shots showing Veeraiya (Vikram) jumping off a cliff into the water. His gang is busy distracting the police. Police vehicles are set ablaze, and women seduce policemen into a trap whereby Veera's henchmen attack. The police are ruthlessly murdered. Raagini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), whilst on a boating trip, is kidnapped by Veera. Dev Prakash (Prithviraj), her husband and a senior police officer, is informed of the incident.

A brief montage of sorts showcases the story of Veeraiya. He is seen as a local hero, who runs a parallel government in rural areas near Tirunelveli, with his brothers – Singarasu (Prabhu) and Sakkarai (Munna). Though considered a Naxalite by the local police, Veeraiyya is respected by the villagers. He kidnaps Raagini hoping to avenge the death of his sister Vennila (Priyamani). He brings her to the edge of a cliff to shoot her to death. She refuses to die at his hands and jumps off the cliff into the water far below, hoping to kill herself, but fails to do so. This causes Veera to hold off the murder, being unable to kill someone who has no fear of death.

Dev and his team enter the forests with the aid of Gnanaprakasam (Karthik), a local forest guard. Despite searching deep in the forests, Dev is unable to hunt down Veera.

Meanwhile, Raagini develops sentiments for Veera after she hears the story of his sister's death. Dev had led an encounter against Veera during Vennila's wedding. Dev's shot grazes Veera in the neck. Veera, fighting for his life, is unable to protect his sister, and he is led out of the fiasco by his gang. The police pressurise Vennila into revealing Veera's hideout. When she refuses, she is subjected to physical and sexual assault. She is serially gang-raped by policemen. Veera returns home to find Vennila distraught and traumatised. The next day, she commits suicide by drowning in a nearby well.

Unhappy with the way his brother is leading a war causing distress to his gang, Sakkarai offers a truce to Dev. Dev initially seems to agree but, when Sakkarai comes out in the open, Dev shoots him to death – revealing that he considers the destruction of Veera as more important than saving his wife.

Veera and Singarasu are enraged and attack Dev's camp; they wipe it out completely. A final confrontation between Veera and Dev takes place on a rickety bridge – where Veera triumphs over Dev – when he decides not to let Dev die. He tells Dev he is letting him live because of his wife. Dev manages to extricate himself out and finds Raagini bound and tied up – with Veera leaving her.

Dev is not entirely happy and, while returning to their hometown in Tiruchirappalli, he accuses Raagini of infidelity and informs her that it was Veera who told him so. Furious, Raagini leaves Dev to meet Veera through Singarasu. She manages to meet him and asks him why he had accused her. Veera tells her he said that he had protected Raagini safely for the fourteen days and nothing else. He quickly realises that Dev lied, hoping Raagini would lead him to his hideout.

Dev appears with a police team and confronts the duo. Raagini tries to save Veera, but he pushes her out of the line of fire, and is shot multiple times. Veera falls to his death with a smile while Ragini tries to save him with all her might but fails to do so.

Cast[]

• Vikram as Veeraiya "Veera", a Naxalite in rural Thirunelveli. He is nicknamed Ravana since he is seen as a hero by locals but as a villain by outsiders.
• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Ragini Subramaniam, Dev's wife who is kidnapped by Veera and kept in the jungle for fourteen days. Her character is based on Sita.
• Prithviraj Sukumaran as Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police 2 aka ASP 2 Dev Prakash Subramaniam IPS, Additional Superintendent of Police (Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police) of Thirunelveli City who wants to shut down Veera's crime empire. His character is based on Sri Rama
• Karthik as Gnanaprakasam, A forest ranger who has worked in the jungle for 25 years, and he helps Dev find Veera's gang. He is a drunkard and enjoys joking around . Lord Hanuman served as an inspiration for this character
• Prabhu as Singarasu, Veera's elder brother who supervises everything in the gang. He also loves to eat and sleep like the character of Kumbhakarna in Ramayana
• Priyamani as Vennila, Veera's half-sister, who wants to marry Velan. On her wedding day, Veera was shot by Dev, and the police forcefully brings her to the police station, where she is brutally raped. She eventually commits suicide, prompting the events of the film. Her character is loosely based on Shurpanakha.
• John Vijay as Hemanth Shankar, Assistant Commissioner of Police aka Deputy Superintendent of Police of Thirunelveli City and the main perpetrator in Vennila's rape assassination. He is Dev's trusted deputy. His character is loosely based on Lakshmana.
• Munna as Sakkarai, Veera's younger brother, who is the only educated member of his brothers' gang. Just like the character of Vibhishana, which he is based on, he genuinely wants to stop the ongoing civil war and bring peace to the land.
• Vaiyapuri as Raasathi, a transgender woman in the village.
• Ranjitha as Annam, Singgarasu's wife. Her character is based on Vajramala in the Ramayana.
• Varsha as Poonkodi
• Ashwanth Thilak as Velan, Vennila's lover, who left her at the altar out of fear of the police. His character is based on Vidyutjihva in the Ramayana.
• Azhagam Perumal as the photographer who takes photos of Ragini
• Stanley as Padakotti.
• Lakshmy Ramakrishnan as Velan's mother.
• Elizabeth as Vennila's mother. Her character is based on Kaikesi in the Ramayana.
• Saravana Subbiah as Ranjith, Veera's spy in Dev's gang. His character is based on Shuka and Sarana in the Ramayana.
• Chaams as the wedding photographer.

Production[]

TBA

Music[]

Main article: Raavanan (soundtrack)Mani Ratnam's norm composer A. R. Rahman, was roped in to compose the film's soundtrack, collaborating with actor Vikram after a gap of 16 years, since Pudhiya Mannargal (1994). The soundtrack album which was released by Sony Music on 28 May 2010,^[1][2][3] features six songs with lyrics penned by Vairamuthu, except for the song "Veera", which was penned by Mani Ratnam himself. The same soundtrack was used for the Hindi version of the film, titled Raavan, and the dubbed Telugu version of the film Villain, with the lyrics for the former was penned by Gulzar and the latter was penned by Veturi, which is his last work before his death in May 2010. While the audio rights of both Tamil and dubbed Telugu version was released by Sony Music,^[3] the Hindi version was released by T-Series.^[4] While the album has six songs in total, five additional songs, which were featured in the movie was released as a collectors's edition special pack on 10 November 2010.^[5][6]

Release[]

TBA

Reception[]

TBA

Controversy[]

TBA

Accolades[]

TBA

References[]

External links[]

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• TBA
• [TBA Raavanan] at Box Office Mojo

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