“Sad” editing ruined Abhishek’s role, tweets Amitabh

Three days after the release of Abhishek Bachchan starrer Raavan, his father, actor Amitabh Bachchan, has lamented that editing glitches ruined his son’s performance, even as some of the key players of the film came to the defence of director Mani Ratnam.

The much-hyped film, starring Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan opposite Abhishek, opened to mixed reviews. Abhishek’s role as Beera, the volatile anti-hero, was panned by many critics.

Amitabh tweeted that the “sad” editing ruined Abhishek’s role, but Raavan’s other star Vikram and cinematographer Santosh Sivan have spoken out against Amitabh’s comments.

“Lot of merited film edited out, causing inconsistent performance and narrative.

Abhishek’s erratic behaviour was due to symbolic 10 heads visually appearing and each giving him different attitudes to adopt for a situation, he would then finally shake them off and decide.

“It’s sad, in the edit you only see the after-effect of that thinking process, hence inconsistent.

In the edit, all the visual heads got cut and you see a confused Beera expression and wonder why?[sic],” tweeted Amitabh.

Sivan, who received universal praise for his camera work in Raavan said the director’s prerogative cannot be questioned by anyone.

“I personally think everyone has a right to their own opinion.

At the end of the day, it’s the director’s call. It’s a different view point he has taken on Raavanan, which is a huge hit in the South.”

Vikram, who received good reviews for his role as Veeraiyya in Raavanan, the same character as Abhishek’s in the Hindi version, said the audience was the ultimate judge.

- PTI