Nikhil Dwivedi openly acknowledges Raavan as 'bizarre', expresses disappointment over the cast's usage: Challenging the reinvention of Tulsidas and Valmiki's Ramayana - an exclusive interview
In an exclusive interview, actor Nikhil Dwivedi opens up about his role in the 2010 film Raavan, a controversial adaptation of the Indian epic Ramayana by acclaimed filmmaker Mani Ratnam. The film, which starred Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Ravi Kishan, was met with mixed to negative critical reception and was a commercial failure.
Dwivedi, who played the character based on Laxmana in the Hindi version of the film, candidly admits that Raavan was a badly-made film. He describes the storytelling as "bizarre" and feels the actors' talents were underutilized because the narrative was confusing. Despite acknowledging Mani Ratnam's effort and vision, Dwivedi notes that the experiment did not succeed commercially or in terms of audience engagement.
Ragini (Aishwarya Rai's character) develops feelings for Beera (Abhishek Bachchan's character) in Raavan, but the film's experimental narrative and its controversial reinterpretation of the Ramayana left audiences confused and disconnected. Dwivedi questions the need to rewrite ancient mythologies, expressing that the film did nothing for his career.
The Tamil version of Raavan with Vikram in the titular role fared better than the Hindi one, but the film's storytelling flaws led to its poor critical and commercial reception. Dev Pratap (Vikram) kills Beera treacherously in Raavan, but the film's emotional and logical disconnect with the audience overshadowed the visual appeal.
Raavan shocked trade pundits with its reception at the time, and Dwivedi's interview provides insight into the factors that contributed to its failure. The film's confusing, experimental, and faulty narrative and storytelling, its unnecessary and controversial reinterpretation of a well-known epic, the underutilization of the actors' potential despite strong performances, and the failure to connect emotionally or logically with the audience outweighed the film’s praised aesthetic appeal.
Despite the film's failure, Dwivedi acknowledges Mani Ratnam's hard work on Raavan and expresses gratitude for the opportunity to work with such a renowned filmmaker. He remains hopeful for future collaborations and looks forward to projects that allow him to showcase his talents more effectively.
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