Abhishek and Aishwarya arrive for the premiere in London on Wednesday.

London, June 17: Twenty minutes from the end of Raavan, which had a world premiere last night in London, you sit up and say: “This isn’t a bad film.”

That is the point when the real Mani Ratnam of Roja and Bombay takes over.

The film explores a grown-up issue: that there can be some good in the most evil of men, such as Raavan, and lurking evil in the most virtuous of men, such as Ram.

The film begins with the kidnap of Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), beautiful wife of Dev Pratap Sharma (Vikram), a ruthless police inspector, by Beera (Abhishek Bachchan), a village brigand.

It is only when Beera, having held on to his prize for most of the film, lets her return to her husband, who remains determined, despite the peace offering, to hunt down his quarry… it is only when Ragini comes back home that the trouble begins.

Had Beera hit her? Ill-treated her in any way? Roughed her up? After all, she had been away for 14 days and “14 nights”? Had anything happened between them? Basically, what Dev is fishing for is whether his wife had slept with Beera.

She is shocked. Her lips quiver. Of course, not. In that case, Dev suggests, she would not mind taking a simple lie-detector test – this is the Ramayana being played out in contemporary India.

A distraught Ragini pulls the emergency cord of the train on which they are travelling, gets off and makes her way back to Beera. Just what lies had he told her husband, she demands angrily.

There is a flashback to their last fight on a high bridge in which Beera, instead of killing Dev, allows him to return to his wife who had confessed to him that she loved her husband, indeed worshiped him as a God. All Beera had said was that Dev was very lucky to have such a pure wife and he had to let her go because he could not trust himself in her presence any more. Pure gold when it goes into fire comes out pure gold, Beera had said.

Ragini’s lips quiver again as she realises the depth of Beera’s passion is much greater then her husband’s. Unfortunately, Dev has tracked his wife to Beera’s lair, along with a battle group of his sharpshooters …. The Telegraph does not wish to give away the end except to report Beera’s profound question which lies at the heart of the movie: “Who is the demon and who is the God?”

Until the critical turning point, the premiere, attended by its principal stars, had been rather more interesting, many in the audience seemed to think, than the 2-hour-20-minute movie itself. Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan came, too, as did their daughter Shweta.

Shah Rukh Khan caused a stir when he arrived with his wife, Gauri, and their daughter, Suhana.

Hollywood premieres are traditionally staged at the Odeon in Leicester Square. Possibly that venue was not available but British Film Institute on the South Bank by the Thames turned out to be a more attractive location on a perfect summer’s evening.

“Raavan: World Premiere,” said the huge outdoor screen in case anyone missed the significance from the most expensive offering yet from Anil Ambani’s Reliance Big Pictures.

Several of its senior executives had also flown into London, led by Amit Khanna, chairman of Reliance Big Pictures.

Ratnam, who is so unfamiliar a figure to western agencies that some spelt his name as “Ratman”, walked the red carpet, guided by the PR girls, and gave interviews to a long line of microphones representing mainstream British television networks as well as a bewildering array of Indian channels and online outlets.

London was probably picked as the right place to hold the premiere because in Bollywood terms, it is the capital of Greater India.

“I think the UK has always been open to Indian films and is getting more and more so now,” the director acknowledged. “It becomes a platform where we can showcase (our films) to the rest of the world.”

Quite a few cinema historians have been struck by the similarity of the posters for Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 psychological horror movie, The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson, and Raavan

Raavan releases in India on Friday. It will hit about 2,200 screens in 58 countries across the world.

All was set up for the arrival by silver limousine of the main attractions – Ash and Abhi, who spent well over 90 minutes giving sound bites and doing “meet and greet”.

“It’s wonderful,” said Abhishek, who held his wife’s hand or had his arm protectively round her. “Look at the reception we’ve got. We are feeling on top of the world and we are so happy that we came to London to premiere the film.”

Aishwarya, it has to be admitted, looked radiant, more beautiful than she has done for a long time.

“We love the fans here… they are out here appreciating our hard work… so it’s time to say ‘Thank you’,” she said.

She discussed the shoot. “We talk about how hard it was physically but, that apart, it was creatively challenging for all of us and that’s the kind of challenge actors enjoy. So we truly cherished this entire experience.”

Shah Rukh, who is still suffering from his back troubles, looked a trifle gaunt, in the opinion of many who met him. But he – like the Big B -- struck just the right balance between making helpful comments and taking over the show.

“When Abhishek calls me anywhere, I know it’s going to be a great party, a great film,” said Shah Rukh. “Aishwarya, Abhishek, Amitji, Mani Ratnam – all my favourite people here. It couldn’t be a better evening to meet your friends, see such wonderful performances, see one of the finer films the country has made, I had to come… and the kids are very fond of Abhishek…so they all wanted to be here.”

He had not seen the film, of course. “I think it’s one of the finer stories I have heard. Insha Allah it would do well and everybody else would like it as well. Aishwarya is way too fantastic an actor for me to make a comment on. Whenever I have worked with her, I have only gained from the fact that she has stood in the same frame as me.”

He added: “I am a little biased towards Abhishek.”

Abhishek said: “He is like family. He has always been there for us.”

His father, too, had not seen Raavan. “I’ve yet to see the film. From the bits I’ve seen from the promotions, I think it looks stunning.”

He was moved by the warmth of the popular reception. “I’ve never seen anything like this before and it just shows the love and affection that people outside of India have for our films.”

Vikram, too, entered into the spirit of the evening and more than did his bit on the red carpet.

“This is my first Hindi film so I’m very excited because I’m going to get a totally new audience that kind of gave me a thrill,” he said.

Ratnam, asked why he had cast Abhishek, replied: “The character is a little mad. And Abhishek is close to it.”

Quite a few cinema historians are struck by the similarity of the posters for Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 psychological horror movie, The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson, and Raavan.

Aamir Khan, who had been invited, issued a statement apologising for his absence: “Amitji invited me for the premiere of Raavan in London when I was there. But I had to come here (back to India) for my mother’s birthday on June 13 and go to Pune to be with her. However, I wish the movie gets success and all my best wishes to Abhishek and Aishwarya.”