Director: Nelson Dilipkumar
Author: Prashanth Neel
Forged: Vijay, Pooja Hegde, Selvaraghavan, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley, Bjorn Surrao, VTV Ganesh, Aparna Das, Shine Tom Chacko, Liliput Faruqui, Ankur Ajit Vikal
Cinematographer: Manoj Paramahamsa
Editor: R. Nirmal
RAW, the Hindi-dubbed model of the Tamil movie Beast is, forgive the pun, an odd beast. It affords eager pleasures – foremost amongst them is famous person Vijay delivering truckloads of charisma and his signature insouciance. Right here he performs Veera Raghavan, an ex-RAW operative who’s described by one character because the Indian James Bond and by one other as a ‘pagal haathi.’ It is a man so expert at his job that he single-handedly takes on adversaries by the dozen. Early within the movie, he hacks off a person’s hand. Later, a person’s head. And he does it with a jaded expression that claims that he’s performed all of it earlier than. In the course of lethal fight, he pauses to flick his enemy’s blood off his cheek and even stretch his again. In the course of a horrific hijack state of affairs, he does push-ups. Swag is every part. And Vijay pulls off these moments, that are backed by Anirudh Ravichander’s thumping music, with such panache that you don’t have any possibility however to cheer.
There are additionally the set-pieces, like a wonderfully performed motion sequence in POK through which Veer captures an Osama Bin Laden-type wished terrorist chief. At one level, he truly walks on a wall. In one other one, he curler blades into battle and makes use of his toes as deadly weapons. And there’s one through which he walks down a hall taking pictures – two sidekicks maintain up metallic doorways so the bullets coming at him can’t contact him. He pauses to placed on shades, which then mirror the flickering lights. There’s additionally the ridiculously catchy blockbuster music Arabic Kuthu, which mashes up Egyptian, Turkish and Arabic costumes and visuals And the way in which through which director Nelson Dilipkumar blends laughs into the bloodletting and our bodies is admirable.
However these highlights are slowed down in a quicksand of bland writing, additionally by Nelson. RAW is Nelson’s third movie. I haven’t seen his debut, Kolamavu Kokila, however his second, Physician, was one in every of final yr’s most progressive movies. Nelson took the topic of human trafficking and someway managed to weave a narrative round it that was wildly entertaining and in locations, even laugh-out-loud humorous. Within the climax, a personality performed by Yogi Babu is crucified. He’s truly hanging on a cross with nails in his fingers and but the one-liners hold coming and touchdown.
Yogi Babu and a few of the different actors from Physician pop up in Beast however the comedy has little of the identical sparkle. The romantic observe begins off with promise. Veera meets Preeti, performed by Pooja Hegde, at a marriage. She truly bulldozes him into relationship her however the enjoyable fizzles out shortly and Pooja is diminished to arm sweet. However the weakest hyperlink is the villain – a inventory character with little character or memorable traces. And my coronary heart went out to the normally terrific Shine Tom Chacko – right here he’s criminally wasted as one of many many terrorists. His backstory and motivation for doing what he does is so sketchy that I questioned if Nelson had written it on the way in which to the shoot.
The mall siege film is nearly a sub-genre. Plots confined to at least one location usually prod administrators into utilizing the area extra imaginatively. Keep in mind The Raid through which a single constructing turned the positioning for jaw-dropping motion? Right here Nelson locations a sprawling mall in the midst of Chennai. Malls by design are visually generic however the filmmaker provides to the monotony by not utilizing the area inventively. One of many hostages – an aged girl – retains babbling on about coming there to see a film. I want a few of the motion had been in a multiplex, maybe with Grasp – a significantly better Vijay movie – enjoying onscreen. By the way, the hostages, just like the baddies, are additionally totally forgettable. I didn’t actually care if any of them lived or died.
Additionally learn: Beast Film Assessment: Nelson Loses And Vijay Features In This Unremarkable But Absurdly Entertaining Motion Movie
On the finish of RAW, I questioned if this form of situation may truly be made thrilling with a star as large as Vijay. His very presence assures us of a cheerful ending, so does the opportunity of suspense even exist? Maybe higher writing may have delivered it.
In an interview, Nelson had stated that he put his most effort into avoiding cliches. That may be true however right here his present for eccentricity and inventiveness appears to have been flattened out by the sheer weight of the star he’s working with. Fortunately Vijay doesn’t falter. I’d prefer to see Veera Raghavan be a part of fingers with Salman Khan’s Tiger or Hrithik Roshan’s Kabir and save the world.
You’ll be able to see RAW at a theatre close to you.
