REVIEW: From the opening sequence of a troupe bus driving into a Kutch village to perform the RamLeela, director Hardik Gajjar, who has also written the screenplay, wastes no time in getting on with the story. Encouraged by the response his portrayal of Raavan is garnering from the troupe and audience alike, Raja Ram, inspired by Rani, also aspires to head to Mumbai to become an actor.
They’re drawn towards each other and start making plans to leave for the city of their dreams, oblivious that everyone in the troupe knows their love story. Bhanvar, who has his eyes on Rani, naturally, isn’t pleased with the development.
In all this, there’s also the local politician Ratan Singh (Gopal Singh), who uses the RamLeela for a Shobha Yatra/Rath Yatra as a preparation for his campaigning for the upcoming polls.
Interestingly, like the actors of a travelling troupe play dual or multiple parts, the players of this RamLeela, too, play more than one part. While theatre company owner Bhanvar also plays Raavan, Rajesh Sharma’s Bajrangi oversees the production, handles finance, drives their bus and also plays Hanuman, and Ankur Bhatia’s Lachhu, too doubles up as their electrician, besides playing Laxman.
While a number of films (like Delhi 6) in the past have used the RamLeela to tell a story, Hardik also addresses the blind faith of the villagers and the mixing of politics and religion. The scenes of villagers seeing the RamLila actors as Lord Ram, Sita and Laxman reminds you of the late 1980s, when Arun Govil spoke about how he couldn’t be spotted having a drink after playing the divine part in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan.
Also relevant is how some politicians use the religion card to play their politics, never mind that the common people suffer as a result of their ambitions and greed, which has been realistically brought out on screen. For someone who has previously directed television shows like Devon Ke Dev — Mahadev and Siya Ke Ram, among several others, and also films and web shows, Hardik sure knows mythology and handles the film with finesse. He effectively uses the onstage characters to express the emotions the actors feel off the stage.
Pratik Gandhi, who was previously known only for his Gujarati films and got national notice with Scam 1992, delivers a wonderful performance as Raja Ram. He convincingly portrays the conflict and the myriad emotions of his character and doesn’t falter one bit. Aindrita does a good job of playing Rani. Abhimanyu, Rajesh Sharma (Bajrangi bhaiyya), Ankur Vikal (as Bhurelal/Ram), Ankur Bhatia (Lachhu/Laxman), Rajendra Gupta and Flora Saini do justice to their parts.
Chirantan Das’ cinematography is beautiful, pleasing to the eyes and enhances the scenes. Shabbir Ahmed’s wonderful soundtrack (he has composed the music and wrote the lyrics as well), inspired by Gujarati folk music, adds to the narrative.
Bhavai also has some old-world charm and special mention must also be made of the treatment of the opening credits, with a golden touch to the black-and-white animation and ear-pleasing classical score.
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