Raag Rangeela Malayalam Movie
Younus Mohammed's 'Raag Rangeela' looks like a shoddily made music video sans a story or script. Making no sense whatsoever, it intersperses a few songs into some haphazardly shot scenes and comes up with a tedious film that terrifies you with its bumpiness.
Manu (Adithyan) and Mohith (Dhruvan) are two friends and musicians who are involved in crafting their dream project - Raag Rangeela. When a girl (Hanna Jayanth) walks into their lives, offering to produce their musical show, their friendship is tested with dire consequences.
The narrative of the film is totally confusing in that it almost looks like a flashback is about to start in the beginning. However, from what transpires towards the end, the commencement comes across as even more confusing.
The first half of the film depicts the struggle for survival of the duo, and their travails and tribulations in trying to make both ends meet. The scenes with the music band are astounding, and stun you with their irrationality, like the one where the drummer is far away from the cymbal when the musical score blares in the background, with the cymbal chimes.
It's true that the film deserves no such reflection, and that it's only with a sense of ennui that you can sit through it, as it sluggishly moves towards the finishing point. There are scenes that are specifically meant to tug at your heart strings - like the one when Mohith hands over his neck chain to the house owner, and drops a tear over a portrait of his mother - but which hardly succeed in doing so.
There is an attempt to bring in a streak of humour into the proceedings by way of a wealthy producer, who insists that Manu and Mohith listen to his compositions. The buffoonery goes on for a while, and when he finally makes an exit, we heave a sigh.
When the twist-churning doctor (Devan) makes an appearance, you sense that some huge surprise is in store. Soon comes the disclosure that is expected to send the audience into a frenzy, but with the kind of (mis)direction that takes place, nothing of the sort happens.
'Raag Rangeela' claims to offer a unique combo of friendship, love and music to its viewers, and when it fails to score on all of these, one realizes that the slip-ups that it makes entirely need to be credited to its flawed script.
For a film that talks of music all the time, 'Raag Rangeela' should at least have had a decent music score. It's inexcusable that the film fails even on this count, and the few numbers (barring the odd Jassie Gift number) that we get to see on screen leave a lot to be desired.
The acting is pretty much appalling as well, with none of the three leading actors being able to deliver what is expected of them. Devan, the only known actor in the lot, looks a bit embarrassed to be caught in this clutter. There is no point in dwelling up on the technical aspects of the film either, the patchiness of which at times appear a bit too glaring to be ignored.
Having not yet been been able to decipher the kind of thunderbolt that had hit my head last night, I would gladly go for a No-stars rating for this one. 'Raag Rangeela' is unendurable stuff that warrants a watch neither in the theatres nor on DVD.
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