Satya

"It doesn't matter you have a great STAR cast or best people as team in your movie. What matters is how good you think you are and what your team's aspirations are."
Satya, a movie which had no STAR cast or not many renouned people in crew else had actors in place of stars, had talent instead of famous names. The movie had no loop holes with a very good story, powerful screenplay, cinematography at it's best, a great director and every cast trying to prove his/her poteintial and in search of success.
Starting with story and screenplay, Anurag Kashyap and Saurabh Shukla, at that time were not too known names, were hired to write about different world which mass audience has rarely seen. Screenplay was powerful and relevant. Best part in this was the characterization, "Bhiku Mhatre" one name which Indian audience will never forget and is honoured as most memorable characters in Indian cinema after "Gabbar" and "Mogambo". Not only Bhiku Mhatre but other characters "Satya", "Kallu Mama", "Khandelkar", "Yeda" etc were written brilliantly. Dialogues, what to say "Mumbai ka king kaun, BHIKU MHATRE", "Humare dhande me vo hi jeetta hai jo pehla haath maarta hai" and other lines like this gave a special strength to every character and also helped in creating interest in every scene and the movie.
Cast, J.D.Chakravarthy, an actor-director, who only appeared once in Bollywood with a small role in SHIVA was the lead in this movie. No one ever thought that he will be so impressive which in turned proved RamGopal Varma's capability in selecting the cast. Urmila Martondkar, glamorous Rangeela girl in a new avatar. With this girl next door performance it was loud and clear that she'll conquer the miss Bollywood title and became a threat to existing female leads. Shefali Shah, after a cameo in Rangeela appeared as Mrs. Pyaari Mhatre and her capabilities after this performance are unquestionable. Saurabh Shukla aka Kallu Mama, another memorable character. Well it was expected from him to be impressive as he felt the character while writing it and he lived up to the expectation. Aditya Shrivastava, played inspector Khandelkar and the only thing that he proved is "you don't need looks to impress, all you need is talent which is above everything." Makrand Deshpande as Advocate Chandrakant Mule, Paresh Rawal as Amod Shukla, Govind Namdeo as Bhau Thakurdas Jhavle were in the skin of the characters giving striking performance. Other than lead roles
Snehal Dabi "Chander Krishnakant Khote", Shabbir Masani "Yeda", Jeeva "Jagga", Neeraj Vora "Runu Sagar", Raju Mavani "Guru Narayan" with their effective and strong screen presence left an ever-lasting impression on the psyche of the audience.

This person should have been given the first spot but he deserves a special highlight, "Manoj Bajpai". A cameo in Duad, director loved his intensity and decided to cast him in a difficult and most important role of "Bhiku Mahtre". If you ask me no one till date can beat him in this role. I would love to describe his performance in detail but words would be too small to describe it, all I can say is he left us speechless.

Cinematography was an important aspect, Gerard Hooper gave the movie a true look and Mazhar Kamran came out with flying colors. Good camera work by the team.
We can't forget to appreciate the work of Apurva Asani and Bhanodaya who did a sharp editing.
Lyrics and music, a difficult job when this movie is under consideration but Gulzar sahaab and Vishal's team made this a musical hit. Every song was perfect for the situation and everyone knew that the album will be on top.
Finally, direction, Mr. RamGopal Varma, I don't think I have to say anything now but yes very good direction by a visionary director. Credits to him for presenting this concept in the correct way. No glamour, perfect look and feel of the characters making the audience feel as they are part of this movie. Thumbs up for the direction.

No wonders why this movie is named under best movies of India.

However I hear many people saying "RamGopal Varma should stop directing movies" because "Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag and few movies which he produced didn't work." How can these people forget that they are speaking against a director who has directed movies like "Satya", "Rangeela", "Sarkar", "Sarkaar Raj", "Company", "Bhoot".......
Just want to end with this:

"If you fail once world will be against you but if you perform well in next the same crowd will worship you."

Raavan

Ken Russell once said:
"You can get away with indifferent photography, you can get away with unimaginative cast, pedestrian editing and uninspired music but what you can't get away within process of film making is a bad script and a weak screenplay."

Raavan proves this statement. Cream of Indian cinema industry came together for a concept which even after thousands of years is fresh, interesting and one of the most talked about subjects across the globe. Cast comprised of well known actors from Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri industries; the crew loaded with visionary, decorated and the best technicians. Inspite of this, the end product delivered was not accepted by audience.
The thing to be appreciated is the cinematography and the locations where the movie is shot. No other Indian movie till has such beautiful location. I wish to visit those locations specially the one in which Abhishek and Aishwarya are standing infront of Vishnuji's idol near a river. Topping was rain effect which made the scenes more beautiful.
 Major factor for the unsuccess was the publicity through which it was clear that the story is based on the epic Ramayan and the promos were stamp on it. Print and electronic media said Vikram is Ram, Aishwarya is Sita, Abhishek is Raavan, Govinda as Hanuman, Nikhil as Laxman through which audience had a clear idea what the story is and expected a new and advanced version of it. This was proved when the movie started and the characters were introduced in the same fashion like Beera (Raavan) kidnapping Ragini (Sita), Dev (Ram) starts a search operation with Hemant (Laxman) and Sanjeevani (Hanuman) helping them. Few more roles were of Siddharth (Ravi Kishan) and Hari (Ajay Gehi) who was brother of Beera like Vibhishan and  Kumbhkarna. There was a feel of Ramayan till interval. After that Sanjeevani somehow reaches Ragini same as Hanuman reached Sita, also in the end Dev suspects Ragini which was as per Ramayana. The movie would have been appriciated and liked by the audience if it was titled "Beera" instead of "Raavan."
Talking about the story, the writer had an idea that he has to compare his story and characters with Ramayana which ofcourse was a very strong concept. But the story failed and had loop holes. Raavan's intension was to take revenge but he saves Dev and also leaves Hemant who were responsible for her sister's suicide. In Ramayan we read, heard and saw that Raavan never agreed for a peace discussion and was never afraid. There is one situation in story where Hari says that we should agree on the peace discussion and also said Beera "you are our power, pride and honour but today you are the one who is in fear."
The story and screenplay says that Sita fell in love with Raavan and was ready to live with him also Ram and Laxman were grey shade characters which is very different to the original one.
About characters, because of a weak screenplay the characters were not used properly like Govinda, a powerful actor, in 2 hours 19 min. of movie was seen for 15-20 min. He had a very imporatant character to be played but his was like a special appearance. Editing was also an issue. The lead performer Abhishek Bacchan acted very well but in very few scenes one can easily encounter his weakness. No doubt on Aishwarya Rai Bacchan and Vikram's performances, great acting, powerful persentation.
Although music was good with brilliant work by Gulzaar sahaab and A.R.Rahman. Good songs and background score, locations and good camera work were among the positives in a relatively average performance.

It is indeed difficult to answer the question asked in "!dea cellular" commercial as to "Who is the Raavan in the Movie??"

No one can be a winner everytime, although this was Mani Ratinam's vision but  I'm still waiting for his next coz may be this movie failed but I know his next will break records as "Mani Ratnam" is known for creating "Masterpieces."