Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela

Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela is a 2013 Indian crime drama film directed and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, set in violent times.The eponymous lead roles are played by Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, and the supporting roles are played by an ensemble cast including Supriya Pathak Kapur, Richa Chadda, Sharad Kelkar, Gulshan Devaiah, Barkha Bisht Sengupta, and Abhimanyu Singh. The film also features a special appearance by Priyanka Chopra in the song "Ram Chahe Leela". The film's release, scheduled on 15 November 2013, had been stayed by Delhi High Court. The film was initially titled Ram-Leela but was changed to Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela in response to an order by the Delhi High Court  and released as scheduled.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali turns Ram Leela into such a passionate celebration of love, you can't help be seduced by it. In the end it is Bhansali - credited for screenplay, editing, music, and direction - who leaves his stamp all over the film. 

 He brings great style and aesthetic to an unapologetically commercial film, which I'm happy to say is far more engaging than the lazy blockbusters we've seen lately. I'm going with three-and-a-half out of five for Ram Leela. It's great fun - not the word you'd normally associate with a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film.

If Sanjay Leela Bhansali is to be believed, Gujaratis are the most colorful, passionate, violent, loud and lusty community in this country. So everyone in the fictional village of Ranjaar is permanently brawling, killing, drinking or loving.There are no half-measures in this town. A minor tiff can escalate into a bloody battle with a high body count; the Rajadis and Saneras have been at loggerheads for 500 years now.

Naturally, Ram, a Rajadi played by Ranveer Singh, falls in love with Leela, a Sanera played by Deepika Padukone. Goliyon ki Raasleela — Ram Leela is Shakespeare on steroids and, for the first half, works wonderfully. As in his past films, Bhansali creates a hermetically sealed fictional world that has little connect with reality. But unlike in Saanwariya or Guzaarish, here he injects a robust humour and creates a gorgeous love story.His trump cards are Ranveer and Deepika. They are effortlessly sexy. Bhansali celebrates their beauty and bodies. But they also have texture and depth.

Their first meeting is magical and their passion sears the screen. In her last three films, Deepika has stolen the show from her heroes, but this one, I think, belongs to Ranveer. He’s flamboyant and cheerfully vulgar but also vulnerable and broken.Cinematographer Ravi Varman bathes each frame in rich, lush colours.

The music, by Bhansali, is lovely. And Supriya Pathak as the chilling Sanera godmother is a treat. But the narrative starts to wobble just before the interval; post mid-point, it unravels completely.Bhansali’s famed aesthetic sense never falters, but it becomes grating when peacocks fly away artfully as a woman runs from her rapist and, in a battle, men are smashed into rangoli, which then flies up in a riot of color. Bhansali strains to create an epic love.

By the end, I was so exhausted that I just wanted all the Rajadis and Saneras to kill each other so that we could be done with it. Still, Deepika and Ranveer make Goliyon ki Rasleela – Ram Leela worth watching.