Raman Raghav 2.0 (Free Writing)

Read this only if you have seen the movie..because it will be a waste of your time if you haven't

As the opening credit says, it's NOT about the serial killer Raman Raghav..

Character Raman:

This guy Raman, the character is not bound to anything. He does whatever he wants to. He cries when he wants to. He kills when he wants to. He laughs when he wants to. During killings, he doesn’t blink an eye. He always keeps his eye on the prey and when the right time comes he strikes. He doesn’t get carried away by emotions too. That is very obvious while killing his sister. Then he doesn’t feel for it, not even one bit. Then, he coolly gets up, does her husband, and washes the blood. And in between he turns back to the kid and gives a smile. That smile!! It kindles the goose bumps factor in you. Your mind doesn’t know what to think at that moment. To think that kid should get saved? Or the stylish Raman should continue doing the child with that smile? Your mind looses the balance between good and bad at that moment. That’s the power of the Raman character and that’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui for you

And his confession dialogue in a police safe house and speech about good and evil in the climax are those same kinds. . Raman says God gives him instructions to kill. He doesn’t do it for passion or revenge. He just wants to kill. And you can never reason with that kind of guy.

Character Raghav:

As many films put up, he is the spoilt child by his father. But, what makes it different from those kinds of clichéd movies is the characterization. He is a cop who uses drugs to get his head up and Viagra to get his **** up.  And he doesn’t feel bad about it. He does it just like that and does cold blooded murder for his survival.

Trivia: Vicky kaushal (Raghav Character) locked himself up for many days inside a room to get himself as THE PERFECT during auditions

THE Character Raman Raghav:

The place where both the characters seem to collide is depicted in the climax when Raman gives that mind blowing speech to Raghav which opens up Raghav’s mind. But, right from the start, both the characters are same. They both, Raman and Raghav do all the things just to get their sleep right, which equates to peace. As Raman puts it in one of dialogues, “We both are messengers of God. We both can kill at will. But the difference is Government gives you food and money for that”

Director:

I admire his ability to write a movie by taking a real life character and cloning it and let it play on the screen with a mind blowing story illustrated with a brilliant screenplay. As usual, he did his homework where he is good at, the slums of Mumbai to pick up unique characters and locations.

He tells you about the movie right from the title card. That hard music with those criss-crossing mad visuals will definitely make you understand “We are up for a brilliant ride”.

He along with Vasan Bala gives life to this brilliant film with their dialogues. Here is an excerpt to get a feel of it:

So after the rain stopped, I started walking again.
You know..I was a born nightcrawler.
Dad used to call me a fox. Apparently, my eyes glow in the dark.
Sir, it's very unsafe to walk the streets at night.
Lot of drunk drivers..
So I walk only on the pavement. Sometimes on the dividers..
Where they lay out the Chessboard..like this
(showing his checked shirt to demonstrate it)
those black and white checkered tiles on the road.
I only walk on the black tiles..
Stepping on a white means GAME over..
And I count the tiles..it helps me pass time..
So I started walking on my blacks..
And I reached the end where there were no more blacks..
But, I don't want to lose the game, right?
God had gifted me with this talent that if I imagine hard I can conjure up anything..
I imagined a Black & White carpet and walked on it.
And he came out of nowhere..
And I asked him to move away from my tiles..
He just wouldn't budge..he was too drunk..
I tried to reason but he just wouldn't understand.
Initially, I was real polite to him..
Then the voices in my head awoke the animal in me.
He just stood there staring at me..
He was standing on my black tile.
Municipality didn't lay out the tiles right..I laid them with my own imagination..
He really didn't know who I was..
So I told him, "Look, I am Sidhi Dalwai"
He didn't get it..
So I had to push him and fell on MY BLACK tile..
Obviously, he had to be moved right?
But he was too drunk and wouldn't listen to me..
That rattled me..pissed me off!
I found a rock next to him..
I picked it up and smashed his f**king head..

Music and Cinematographer:

The Music director Ram Sampath, matches the mood of director and gives the perfect mood for the film. The bar theme at the start, title card theme and the theme where Raghav catches his father’s collar are great examples <3

And the Cinematographer Jay Oza doesn’t get too bright. He keeps the visuals low lit to create the dark theme and the Mumbai slum is beautifully framed. And particular mention for framing Nawazuddin in all scenes of the movie which adds to that dark cold blooded theme already established by dialogues and Music

Overall, the movie is a depiction of every single sleeping Physco in us by Anurag Kashyap !!

Image Credit: www.koimoi.com