Ravichandran: Showman's quest to regain his Midas touch

Veeraswamy Ravichandran was only 45-years-old when the Puttanna Kanagal Award for Lifetime Achievement was bestowed upon him by the Karnataka State Government in 2005. Traditionally, almost everyone honoured with this prestigious award was a veteran. Few could have conceived that Ravichandran, as he is mononymously known across the board, would be chosen as a recipient at such an early age. Yet, with characteristic candour, the star quipped on the occasion, “So, have they had enough of my direction?”

Up until 2005, apart from the myriad memorable roles he essayed in his film career, Ravichandran donned the hat of director 19 times. However, in stark contrast and barring films that did not progress beyond their formal announcement and those that remain incomplete, he has directed only five films in the last 17 years.

His career began with the blockbuster ‘Premaloka’ in 1987. He churned out both a string of memorable and also largely forgettable ventures, as a director, over two decades. ‘Shanti Kranti’ (1991), ‘Ekangi’ (2002) and ‘Aham Premasmi’ (2005) are his highly ambitious films that ended up as monumental failures.

Despite these setbacks, the pre-2005 Ravichandran did not lose his grip over audiences or his ability to read the market. Year on year, the ‘Crazy Star’ offered some of the most colourful, lavish and successful films.

Ravichandran, who inspired a generation of filmmakers, then suffered an unenviable directorial record in the next 15 years with a slew of misses that include ‘Hatavadi’ (2006), ‘Hoo’ (2010), ‘Crazy Star’ (2014), ‘Apoorva’ (2016) and the recent ‘Ravi Bopanna’. During this phase, the projects he announced or partly shot — ‘Premalokadalli Ranadheera’ and ‘Manjina Hani’ — stirred expectations among fans.

An analysis of the sea of change in Ravichandran’s filmic oeuvre reveals that the dramatic shift did not occur in 2005 but three years prior to ‘Ekangi’ — the promising yet disastrous magnum opus about a philosophising loner. Despite garnering the Karnataka State Film Award in various segments, the musical flick struck a discordant note with cine-goers and by his own admission, the film wrecked the actor on multiple levels.

Despite the failed experiment, the characterisation of the brooding philosopher continued to find resonance in the themes of his subsequent films: ‘Aham Premasmi’, ‘Apoorva’ and ‘Ravi Bopanna’. For instance, ‘Malla’ (2004) too, his sole success as a director since ‘Ekangi’, is witness to the accommodation of this moralising aspect. It is as if the director in Ravichandran is unable to come to terms with the dismal performance of his experimental brainchild ‘Ekangi’.

Remakes vs experiments

At first glance, Ravichandran’s excessive predilection for remakes emerges as a formidable reason for his struggles as a director in the second half of his career. Two of the biggest directorial hits of his career, ‘Premaloka’ and ‘Ranadheera’, arrived early in his career in the late 80s. Both were remakes.

Backed by that winning formula, many of his best-known creations were remakes throughout the 90s. In contrast, all of the versatile actor’s misadventures from ‘Shanti Kranti’ to ‘Ekangi’ were attempts at originals.

Legions of his admirers lapped up the fare he dished out. To his credit, he broke the jinx with the mega hit, Malla, which wasn’t a remake and remains a solitary exception to this dichotomy.

So, what explains the downturn in Ravichandran’s directorial accomplishments post ‘Ekangi’? The answer can be found in the positive evolution that the actor in him has undergone in recent years. Starting with ‘Manikya’ (2014), where he plays Sudeep’s father, his acting career has experienced a welcome remoulding.

More than shedding inhibitions to play an older man — when many of his contemporaries from the 80s like Shivarajkumar, Ramesh Aravind and Jaggesh are yet to break away from essaying roles younger than their real selves — it opened up a world of possibilities for the actor.

Despite reservations, Ravichandran played the part of Lord Krishna in the 2019 mythological war film ‘Kurukshetra’ (2019). He proved to be an unusual, surprise package; a revelation, no less, given his blue-hued skin and clean-shaven appearance for the first time onscreen.

A further noticeable example of this transformation is the 2014 box-office hit ‘Drishya’, in which Ravichandran played the lead but one which was uncharacteristically new for him. The remake thriller saw him as a middle-aged man who vows to protect his family against indescribable odds.

But as a director, the supposed ‘experiments’ he carried out in the films he directed however seemed to attempt, quite consciously, to reinforce his onscreen romantic image. This formed the crux of ‘Apoorva’ released in 2016. It flopped as the audiences were left aghast on watching an elderly man romancing a teenager, as per the unpalatable script.

Ravichandran has now finally come to terms with his age. The clever wordplay of the tagline of his latest film ‘Ravi Bopanna’ says: “60 is the new Big-innings”. But great achievements are sometimes a burden. Today, it is imperative for the ‘Crazy Star’ to shed the baggage of past successes and also his obsession with experimentation as a director. Ravichandran’s fans want their hero to break free from the self-imposed shackles of expectations, and be gentle with himself.

(The writer is a freelance journalist, film critic and an author.)