Ravi Bopanna

Alas and just when you thought director Ravichandran could not do worse than 'Apoorva' enter 'Ravi Boppana' to prove you wrong. I was pretending that the director Ravichandran retired after the film ended. Even his last film Kannadiga (2021) which was a direct ott release, there was zero hype and it took weeks for me to pay attention to it. The film was incredibly formulaic with bad writing that i ended up finishing it in less than 30 minutes by skipping all the boring scenes.

Back in the day Ravichandran has churned out many hits, one of the component being the creative subliminal sensuality with sophisticated set pieces. He has delighted so many fans across the globe with classics and recently won rave reviews for justifying the character roles in remake films like my favourite Dashamukha, Drishya, Maanikya and Aa Drushya. But we must admit that he wrote himself out with the films credited as a director, this too reeks of hedonism. What displaces the most is that Ravichandran tries to hard to stay relevant, ruining the source material Joseph (2018). I still hate his 2014 film Crazy star, a bad remake of Traffic (2011).

Coming back, Ravichandran has summoned his lobotomized alter ego, whose only business is blabbering the noise in his head "Life is this, life that," manchild internal conflicts quotes and philosophical treaties on his creativity. What's worse is having to endure the pseudo-philosophical babble, the heroine shots as the camera begins feasting upon her like poor mans close-ups from Jonathan Demme films or Zoom in like Hong Sang-soo (Apology for drawing this horrendous comparison as i want to put my thoughts somewhere else). He does his best to portray grief and karma trying to convince us that he is existentially troubled. The fatigue of a 61-year-old who throws a narcissistic attitude in the runtime and clings on to his stand that he is crazy, he is right and bullocks to the audience. Even the hyped Kiccha Sudeep role in the climax leads nowhere that you want to quickly forget everything by the time it reaches the end.

As i mentioned the movie just reeks of self indulgence to stay relevant, edgy with cringe all over, so unbearable. If you want to break up with your lover/girl/partner bring them to to this movie or play that Le Ley Bopanna on loop. Sometimes it felt like i am in a massage parlor, it was relaxing while cracking your neck seeing the cringe unfold in front of your eyes. A huge flop there, I really wanted to like this film but couldn't. I wish he never gets to watch the works of Jean-Claude Brisseau, Slavoj Zizek, João César Monteiro or the poems of Antonin Artaud. Pretty sure he will lift it and incorporate it in his films which might be a disaster outing.

50 years of Eswari Productions, with so many hits and it's a matter of tastes and moments, but what can't be denied is the long and brilliant career. But this movie is a disgrace, it concerns me, really can't see an empire going down like this. I hope Ravichandran will overcome this creative crisis or take up good roles as per his age.