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| Ram-Leela |
Boy and girl from warring factions love one another. Do they live happily ever after?
What new can a filmmaker do with William Shakespeare's classic love-story Romeo and Juliet? The answer is, if you are Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is technically sound and astute, you just become impudent, set the story in Gujarat, sign Bollywood's currently best actress Deepika Padukone (Leela), team her up with 'I've-got-fire-in-my-loins' actor Ranveer Singh (Ram) and then let them loose on one another.
So there's the Sanada clan girl Leela who falls in lust, with her enemy Ram, a Rajadi. Their clans have been at war for 500 years and the exaggeratedly trigger happy lot clearly underline that no matter what one Ram or Leela feel, the rest of the clan only believes in mutiny.
So bullets fly, blood flows and bahus become victims of evil design. In between this war-fare Deepika and Ranveer touch, feel, kiss and cuddle and ensure you can feel their stirring. Unabashedly, the filmmaker uses his lead pair's real and reel chemistry, fuses it with sexual tension and asks you to partake in their love-hate relationship.
For the most part, Ram-Leela, SLB's most commercial work till date, has nice doses of raunch and ras (juice). Since the plot is Shakespearan, the maker has the arduous task of telling you this story on an opulent scale. Vintage palaces and daunting deserts are fitted in with precision. Deepika is breathtaking and in top form. Ranveer displays his six packs and histrionics with fair ease. You have to also applaud Richa Chadda and Supriya Pathak Kapur for being the talent they are.
On the flip side, please note, the build up of the romance could've been better; the sale of guns in a mandi (market place) is implausible; Ishaqzaade that had a similar plot was less ostentatious but more authentic; the pathos in the relationships was mi
ssing and the last shot where Ram and Leela fall in slow-motion into the water, on straight backs, is contrived.
Ranveer Singh's 'roar' is identical to that of Ajay Devgn's in Singham. SLB's tribute to Rohit Shetty?
