Two clans in Ranjaar
have been feeding their age old enmity with bullets and blood - it appears that
the only relationship that the two clans can ever have is that of ruthless
hatred. However, each of the clans have an outlier - Ram (Ranveer Singh) the
Rajeda Romeo and Leela (Deepika Padukone) the Sensual Sanera who believe in peace and not war, and well
also in intensely passionate romance. Bhansali’s Ram-Leela
is is a story of war to peace and lust to love.
Movie’s screenplay is a test of viewers’ patience – if you can
survive through the extra colorful and almost horny first half, you will be
rewarded with a great second half. Those of you who do not enjoy cheeky comedy and sexual irreverence will hate the leads, especially
Raveer during the first half, but there are good enough chances that you will fall
in love with his intense acting during the second half of the movie.
You
might ask, does Ram-Leela qualify to be an eternal love story? The answer is a
clear NO – not because the lead characters are weak but because there is a
character in the movie that overpowers the characters of the love birds (Mor) -
“Dhankor” brilliantly played by Supriya Paathak. You move out of the hall
and all you remember is Supriya’s marvelous acting. Also worth mentioning are
the performances by Richa Chaddha and Barkha Bisht – the empathetic "Bhabhis" in the movie.
Had
Bhansali not diluted the movie with an overdose of physical love, Ram-Leela
could have easily scored a 4/5 rating for its superb performances, detailed
costumes and jewellary, elaborate sets, tasteful music and choreography. However,
the shallowness brings down my rating to a 2.5. Oh wait! On a second thought I
would give it a 3/5 – a 0.5 bonus for the beautiful Gujarati folk song (Mor Bane Thanghat Kare) that I can’t stop listening to over and over again.
