I thought I came for the wrong movie when I saw the long title preceding the words Ram Leela. Then the portent came in the censor certificate about the duration of the film - 154 minutes. Then came a warning that this film is an adaptation from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". That means the film must end in a tragedy, I thought. It did end in a tragedy with Ranvir Singh and Deepika Padukone, the Rajasthani equivalents of Romeo and Juliet, shooting each other down in a climax at point blank range. The climax itself justifies the title - Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram-Leela. Because in that epic shot which already wears out the audience after a dozen songs and 153 minutes, Ram (Ranvir) and Leela (Deepika) kiss for one last time before releasing the trigger on their magazine. First time, Sanjay Leela Bhansali takes the credit for allowing two lovers, darlings of the masses, take each others' lives instead of shooting at their own temples. In short, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has attempted a lavish re-interpretation of Romeo and Juliet with extravagant paraphernalia and bizarre theatrics but lost the plot that could connect with the mood of the times. The film is great in performances, visual effects, scale and grandeur but fails in characterisation, emotions, depth and consistency.
The story is faithful to the bard's original story. Instead of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, this is the story of a couple caught between Raanjadas and Sannades, in one village of Rajasthan where the police turn a nelson's eye to the biggest arms bazaar. It is more anarchic than Obama's country where everyone, even toddlers, carry guns and shoot at will. Ram goes to the other side for a holi party and gets smitten by Leela in one helluva dance. They connect instantly and the love develops between the two even as Leela's mother, the gang-leader of Sannades, played by Supriya Pathak Kapur, rushes her marriage with an archaeologist. Leela returns to Ram's place, her love grows stronger and the enemity grows stronger between the Raanjada's and the Sannade's. Unlike in Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet's cousin Tybalt is mistakenly killed by Romeo, in "GKRR", Ram's brother is mistakenly shot dead by Leela's brother and the exchange leads to another death, Leela's brother. That shot, a high-octane sequence builds up into the best action sequence of the film with intensity and suspense. After that, the elopement of Ram with Leela, the subsequent return and then the fateful ending after much macabre killings. A few cinematic changes by Sanjay Leela Bhansali to nativise the story here - a signed written order by Leela to annihilate every single Raanjada and instead of drinking poison, they consummate their love again with kisses and bullets before taking their own lives, at a time when remorse and regret returns to the warring people on both sides. In the end, Ramleela is celebrated with the burning of Ravan's effigy by both the sides, but alas, the lead pair is gone.
To be fair, the film has some electrifying moments - the passion between Deepika and Ranvir sets the screen ablaze, the dialogues by the warring factions on both sides, especially by Supriya Pathak and Abhimanyu Singh as well as by Ranvir Singh are outstanding. Characterisation of the three of them is exceptional. Supriya Pathak had the best lines in the film and this is one of her best performances. Ranvir Singh, looks a maginificent hulk in his chivalrous avatar as the energetic Rajput; he strikes great balance as a hate-disperser and a love-monger. Whether he removes his shirt or turban, he oozes out machismo and animal magnetism. Would he be the talent that can maneuvre competition from Kapurs and Khans? Likely. Deepika is lissome and beautiful as ever, looking better in traditional costumes and royal frills. Her dancing skills looked prim and proper but curtailed by the energy of Ranvir. Of all the starcast, her accent looked more out-of-place, however. She is clearly not marwari-conversant unlike the rest of the cast.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali has got good support from screenplay writer Siddharth-Garima who also wrote crisp dialogues in local dialect. Another experiment: Sanjay Leela Bhansali scored music himself. Almost all the songs sound alike except one modern tempo beat, with rhytms and soundscapes resonating the Rajasthani hills and villages - too much of folk music from titles to end-titles. I wonder if this is all straight-lifted out of Sanjay's repertoire of folk tunes tucked away in rural hinterlands because except for Monty who scored for "Saawariya", it has been Ismail Durbaar mostly. Surely, Sanjay's background score is richer than his songs scored, which are too many and farcical. Despite the talent and its harvest, the film doesn't have enough substance or emotions to sustain a modern audience. I wonder why Sanjay had to pick Shakespeare to make a point or two about a love story between a cracker of a lead pair. He didn't start films with an intent to revive Shakespeare like Vishal Bharadwaj. On the contrary, Sanjay had a touch of an artist who can take cinematic experience to new highs with his ensemble of opulent story-telling and grandiose backdrops. But by picking a tragedy once again, after "Devdas", he had wasted Eros's money and audience's time. It was not worth 154 minutes of macabre hate and love. In the original story of Romeo and Juliet, the two families agreed that Romeo and Juliet should be buried together. On the grave were these words as per the play: "There was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and Romeo." The message of the bard that one can be unreasonable in both love and hate was driven to death by countless film-makers around the world and in India. The audience knows it but doesn't want the tragedy to repeat in the movies - at least subsequent debacles at the box office of film-makers who attempted a studious reprise of the sad ending of the lovers show that this doesn't work anymore. Poor Sanjay! Wish someone told you at Eros. Cannot rate this above-average for all the effort. 2.5 out of 5.
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