Cast: Yashpal Sharma, manoj bajpayee, Tia Bajpai, Arjan Bajwa
Director: Maqbool Khan
Rating: 1.5/5
This Raavan's Lanka shines in parts but not as bright as gold!
By Priyanka Ketkar
Some time back, there came a film with the title- Raavan. It had Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Raavan but what it lacked was a proper gripping blend of the past into a modern, contemporary fashion. Maqbool Khan succeeds in doing so to some extent in his epic based or inspired new movie- Lanka.
Love, lust, betrayal and revenge…all of these emotions were an integral part of Ramayan. So many films have explored Lord Ram, so many have shown the exploits of Ravana but none of them have made a hero out of Raavan. A different angle is explored in Lanka- the relationship between Raavan and his brother Vibhishan.
Though not bothers in the strictest sense of the word, Jaswant Sisodia urf Bhai Saheb (Manoj Bajpayee) and his right hand cum friend cum Nameless follower (Arjan Bajwa) share a great bond. But a power, money, women and drugs have the capacity to destroy even the sanest of a person and the strongest of a relationship. Suddenly the man-who-hasn't-been-named is torn between his loyalty for Bhai Saheb and sympathy & Love for Bhai Saheb's mistress Anshu (Tia Bajpai). Will he fight for Anshu and will fight his own mentor or will he just remain a silent spectator forever? The film kind of reminded me of Koyla starring Shahrukh Khan which had a similar plotline. But the difference here is that Arjan Bajwa is not "Ram", but he is Vibhishan. So Ram, often considered as "God" is bound to be perfect whereas the different shades of grey in Vibhishan's personality, his camaraderie with Raavan and still his righteousness is what sets this one apart.
The movie starts-off well and even you are surprised that it is turning out to be good but soon it starts losing the grip. Manoj Bajpayee has done complete justice to his character but watching his as the hero of the film might not be such a delight for many. Arjan Bajwais impressive and so is Tia Bajpai. But since the story revolves mainly around Manoj Bajpayee, the Tia Bajpai angle seems to be neglected. More focus is given to Manoj-Arjan's relationship. It is good in a way but they could've done a bit more of explaining here and there. Rest of the cast is comparatively good. What could've done with a bit more efforts are the camera work and the editing. The songs in the movie are pretty good but since they have barely been promoted at all, you cannot connect to any of the songs; so the music doesn't leave much impact.
Overall, what started off well should've ended well but it doesn't.