Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Gulshan Devaiah, Richa Chadda and Supriya Pathak
The first aspect that really stands out about Ram Leela is just how sexual, and how intensely physical the film is without any actual sex or skin show. A good indication is that early first kiss between the lovers, even before they've uttered a word to each other. Bhansali's reading of the movie-going public at large is not off the mark here: the constant stream of bullets, the unapologetic sexual innuendos and entendres, and the uninhibited passion the actors bring to their not-sosubtle love story is precisely what viewers in a country gasping for freedom, whether it is physical or emotional, want. For a young generation that doesn't have the elbow room, Ram Leela might just be their opportunity to vent. However there is fatigue. There is Romeo and Juliet fatigue (Ishaqzaade last year, Issaq this year - it's just the same old tragic love story isn't it - one too many coincidences, balcony scene and the utterly predictable end included); song and dance fatigue (now matter how bewitching Deepika Padukone looks, by the last song you're just exhausted); and the fancy-look fatigue (most viewers will tune out the exoticness after a while). You've not really seen such visuals, but you've experienced the story before.
Bhansali doesn't even bother with anything too deep in the first half -that is all mere foreplay - and in the second when the plot tries to excise the excess and scrape together some emotion it's already been over two hours of sitting through a movie with no climax in sight. And that's the other problem - at 162 minutes including a redundant Priyanka Chopra item number - Ram-Leela is much too long.
Certainly the stand-out aspect of Ram-Leela is the acting department. The second line of defense - the support cast - Richa Chadda, Gulshan Devaiah, Barkha Bisht Sengupta, Abhimanyu Singh, and Supriya Pathak as the matronly mobster Ba, are all pitch perfect in their comprehensively defined roles. The women, especially, have really understood their bits to the last detail. But the canvas belongs to Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone who match each other's energy and conviction with relentless chemistry, making it look easy and natural.
And finally, as with all SLB movies -the craft is something to look forward to. It is evident that every technical department - Ravi Varman's cinematography, Wasiq Khan's art direction, and Anju Modi's costume design - has worked hard and in consonance to realize Bhansali's meticulous, ravishing frames, a signature single-source backlighting bursting through doors and windows. Sound, however, gets the short stick with scratchy sync-recording and a final mix that will damage speakers across the country with its loudness.
Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone as the lead pair are sizzling hot. Both give it their all in the role. Alas, all this is of no avail. Had Bhansali given careful thought in plotting their meeting and eventual falling in love, this would have been a different love story. He was in a hurry to get them locking lips and having their hands over each other in a jiffy.
Apart from the lead pair, Supriya Pathak, Gulshan Devaiah and Richa Chadda stand out in their respective roles.
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