Aalochak's Review of Raavan

Hi guys😛

I'm a big Raavan fan and have finally decided to add my take on the serial. I'll be posting my review and comments on each episode - and hope to generate debate - Warning : I dont sugar-coat and will prolly offend. And please dont read my posts if you dread spoilers !

With that heres my 1st review :

Review of Episode 44 (5 Oct 2007)

This episode while proceeding with the story at a good pace, manages to be mediocre and exposes large gaps in the script. With a voice-overed soliloquey that echoes badly, Raavan arrives in May-lok and reconciles with Mandodari, who is upset by his second marriage. We finally get to see Mandodari – but WHAT = not even a mention of her lost child – almost like the incident NEVER happened !!! They've totally lost that thread of the story and my hunch is that reintegrating it later is going to be eccentrically creative.

In Ayodhya, Ram and Lakshman bid farewell to their parents and leave with Vishwamitra. But what happened to Hanuman - who in the last episode decided to stay in Ayodhya with Ram ? Also completely disappeared ! 😕 Mirtavasu informs Raavan that Sahastra Arjun remains an obstacle to Raksh culture. Raavan resolves to attack Madhya-desh, but is upset when his uncles gather an army for the war. Raavan, feeling challenged that his uncles have little faith in his might, dismisses the army and decides the take on Sahastra Arjun single-handed and without military backup. This is a powerful scene and shows the narcissism and pride in Raavan's nature starting to impair his decisions.

Entering Mahishmati (the capital of Madhya-desh) Raavan and his uncles disguised as pilgrims seek an audience with Sahastra Arjun. Of course the disguise only consists of black shawls wrapped around their military regalia, and the producers expect that the viewers, like the guards of Mahishmati, never notice that pilgrims wear a kavach (body-armour) and heavy-duty military boots with ornate gold designs on them!🤣 Indian serials shud start to pay attention to detail to shake off their reputation of shoddy complacency. 😡 Raavan's threat to commit suicide finally gets him into Sahastra Arjun's chambers where the latter is frolicking in his bath with maid-servants. A very kitsch looking cringe-worthy scene, only getting worse each minute with the hyena cackles and silly prattles of the dasis. Sahastra Arjun pulls off Raavan's disguise and recognizes him, at which Raavan challenges him to a dual. A one-on-one combat follows which sees Raavan being defeated and dragged away in chains. A slow uninspired fight scene – at times bordering on homoerotic – yawn ! However despite being an episode with big holes, bad scripts and "badder" conceptualization – the saving grace is the last scene when Raavan dragged away fettered still manages to express his hurt of defeat with his regal pride thro his expressive eyes. Good job Mr Jha! – You beginning to grow on me.👏

Episode Rating : 6 / 10

Good review. I haven't seen the whole episode yet so I can't comment on everything. But I agree with you about the whole lost child thing. I think something seriously went wrong with the script with that story line. I'm pretty sure the writer has been pressurized to avoid that part of the story as much as possible. They can't erase it since they already mentioned the kundali thing back during Ravan's teen stage. So they are avoiding talking about it. 😕

And yeah, this serial is very poor in dealing with action stuff (one-on-one fights and big wars both). You can't afford to be poor in this department when dealing with Ravan, whose entire life is full of such battles and wars. 🤔

The script has giant holes. It seems they thought of a lot of things but they are having trouble implementing them properly. 😳

Thanks Alochak. Please continue to write.
Send PM to umi82990 if you plan to write updates here regularly.
Do you write updates after watching Raavan on TV or do you watch its video?
Besides updates also please continue to add posts in this forum.

Thanks for the update. I really like your review.
Please keep it up.

Great review. I enjoyed it.

Just wanted to add that according to Valmiki Ramayan and also Puranas, the fight between Ravan and Sahastrarjun happened many years before Ram was born.

Sahastrarjun curbed the pride of Ravan by defeating him. After that one day Parashuram killed Sahastrarjun. These happened before Ram was born.