November 2, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): The magnificent effort by Mani Ratnam culminated in his trilingual film named ‘Raavanan’ in Tamil. The film was released amidst fanfare while the closely guarded storyline as well as the other facts that were kept a secret helped in building expectations. The movie came and went without creating a solitary ripple. The damp squib ‘Raavanan’ was however hailed with a host of awards including the prestigious Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) award for Best Cinematography.

Noted camera person Santosh Sivan along with V. Manikandan have jointly been nominated to receive the award on the 2nd of December. The failure of the film did not in any way deter the public to notice the beautiful locales and surprising backdrops that seemed to be akin to poetry on celluloid. The critics in India who had been particularly harsh in their reviews nevertheless hailed the cinematographer duo for their excellent work.

The movie was also screened at the Pusan International Film Festival. Both the Hindi and the Tamil versions were screened as a part of the Special Gala event. The director along with his wife Suhasini and the lead characters including the Junior Bachchan couple, Vikram and producer Sharada Trilok were present at the occasion. The director also won the Jeager-Le Coultre Award at Venice earlier this year.

The 127 minute long Tamil version, ‘Raavanan’ is now ready to premiere at the Tenth annual MIAAC film Festival to be held at New York City, this November. ‘Raavanan’ will be shown with English subtitles for the benefit of the large section of viewers who do not speak Tamil.

– Sampurn Wire