Review: 'Ramaa the Saviour' is a film kids may not savour

Film: Ramaa: The Saviour (U)
Cast: Sahil Khan, Tanushree Dutta, Dalip Singh Rana
Director: Hadi Ali Abrar
Rating: **

Six children — Rohan, Riddhi, Kunal, Komal, Sameer and Saanjh — go down a digital rabbit hole via a video game, The Last Battle, to a mystical island where a battle of good versus evil occurred 1800 ‘gaming years ago’ between the brothers Vali and Kali who represent the respective sides.

Our titular hero played by Khan serves as a guardian to the children in the face of danger which comprises of a ragtag team of mercenaries led by the antagonist Kali who represents all that is bad in paradise.

Kali, the brother of Vali (Rana aka the Great Khali),  is in search of an elusive treasure cache. He is aided by scientist Samara played by Dutta who, rather uncreatively, wields a commonplace gun.

Fantasy films in India are a rare commodity and, with every summer heralding some visual effects blockbuster that ups the ante, It would be unfair to size Ramaa up against the stuff the West has churned out. The fact that such a film was made taking Indian sensibilities into consideration instead of opting for another unofficial remake is worth appreciating, though the film is largely uninspired. How well kids will accept the film is really up to how high (or low) the standards of individual kids are.

The beginning of the adventure, with the children being uprooted from some archetypal classroom (well, two snootier ones are typically from an international school), is more Lord of the Flies than Lord of the Rings. Later the film assumes a tone not unlike The Chronicles of Narnia meets Mortal Kombat with a hint of The Passion of the Christ towards the end (seriously).

Among the things the film has going for it are its decent opening sequence, soundtrack, and picturesque Thai locations. Getting a great performance from children is a task in itself, and at times the kids can get you a little hot under the collar with their not too infrequent shrill and/or flat delivery of lines which tend to point to the flimsiness of the script.

You know that the fact that it is a children’s film is taken for granted with the over-simplicity of almost everything. The endless slug fests that crop up every now and then get really old, really fast. This brings us to the violence. While we realise that the film seeks to emulate a video game with interspersed cut scenes and the like, was there really a need for a bullet-in-the-head scene?

Ramaa isn’t the stuff of a classic. This is because of the limitations of the script where weirdness exits arbitrarily and the characters don’t evolve much. Yes, it is a children’s film, but assuming that they will lap this one up, and even recommend it to their friends, would they return to this later? The film doesn’t even achieve the Jaani Dushman level of badness to be preserved for posterity by the custodians of cult cinema.

With nothing to do except stir about in their seats, shuffle their feet and ogle at Dutta (when they aren’t rolling their eyes), adults will probably lose their patience 100 gaming years before the end credits appear.