Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Yash, Ravi Dubey, Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh, Vivek Oberoi, Shobana, Arun Govil, Lara Dutta, Anupam Kher

Crew: 
Based on Sage Valmiki's Ramayana
Written by Shreyas Jain, Shridhar Raghavan, Nitesh Tiwari
Cinematography by Pankaj Kumar, Mahesh Limaye
Editing by Huzefa Lokhandwala
Music by Hans Zimmer, A. R. Rahman
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari
Produced by Namit Malhotra, Yash, DNEG

Ramayana, the most beloved epic of India, is considered mythology by some and real history by many. Talking a middle ground and re-imagining the Sage Valmiki's poetic verse, Namit Malhotra and Nitesh Tiwari brought the new epic re-telling, Ramayana, as two part Saga. The first part released on 5th November and second part is scheduled for 2028 Diwali. Let's discuss about the movie in detail. 

Plot: 

While everyone is aware about Ram's story, this plot details reflect what this movie is all about. Jatayu (Anupam Kher) narrates the story of how Asuras led by princess Kaikasi (Shobana) fight ferociously against Lord Indra (Kunal Kapoor) led Devathas. Kaikasi asks her elder son, Dashanana (Yash) to lead the attack of Asuras and bring their resurgence. He takes the onus upon himself even though he loves to play veena and live like a sage. His other brothers - Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana (Harish Uttaman) are not similarly capable. Dashanana gets the boon of Lord Brahma to not be harmed by any weapon yielded by Devathas, Kinneras, Yaksha, Kimpurushas and leaves out humans. He surges against Kubera and takes over Lanka, and even defeats Indra.

So, the king of Devathas pleads Lord Vishnu to help them. He takes the form of Rama (Ranbir Kapoor), eldest son of King Dasaratha (Arun Govil). He is always puzzled by the question of what is his destiny. He goes with Sage Vishwamitra to defeating Tadakha, Subhahu. He travels to Mithila and marries Sita (Sai Pallavi), after lifting Lord Shiva's Dhanusu. Dasaratha decides to coronate Rama as Ayodhya's King but then Rama decides to honor his father's word to Kaikeyi (Lara Dutta) and accepts 14 years of exile from Kingdom. The story ends at Ravana abducting Sita and Jatayu being killed in the battle to save Sita. Watch the movie to know how the makers narrated this story. 

Analysis: 

Note: Telugu Press premiere had been conducted in 2D and this review reflects the experience of watching the film in same format but not in 3D or IMAX. 

Ranbir Kapoor is good as Rama but he decided to restrict his natural charm and restrain in playing Lord Rama. It is visible in his stance, in his body language. In few scenes, his performance comes across as him trying too much to fit in to a different body language and feels awkward. Overall, he did try his best to not be the Ranbir Kapoor, audiences have been used to watching on screen. Sai Pallavi is okayish as Sita. While her efforts are visible, she did not really leave an impact. 

Yash as Ravana is splendid. His screen presence, his performance - mainly, in the ten different personalities leading him to take a decision scene, stand out. He did put his best foot forward to look, act and bring aura of Ravana to the scenes. Ravi Dubey, Arun Govil, Lara Dutta, Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh are okay but they do not leave any sort of impact. Shobana is very good in the portions given to her. 

Nitesh Tiwari tried to re-imagine a lot of portions and add more meat to Ravana's side of the story. But the materials they have sourced from is not Valmiki Ramayana in those portions. Also, Rama looking to find his destiny is not taken from Valmiki's version, as the sage's manuscript never states that Ram did not know his purpose rather it points to the opposite. He knew it. The makers also try to showcase Ravana taking revenge for Surpanaka and knowing Ram could be Lord Vishnu's avatar, which is also sourced from other interpretations but not from Valmiki's Ramayana. 

The makers tried to give their twist to many renowned scenes and established beats. At many places, it feels like they tried to re-work certain emotions to fit their interpretation like Sita fighting and being a warrior alongside Ram. These kind of embellishments to the popular epic fail to really evoke a surprise as the narration is flat. The slow paced stretches turn predictable and they are not executed with similar vigor, visually. 

VFX artists did put their best foot forward. While visually, it is not ground-breaking, majority of the portions are new for Indian screens. Cinematography could have been better as at places, it is evident that movie had been shot on green screen and in a studio. Maybe, a little more mix of real locations and enhancement through VFX might have worked better. Music by Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman is a big letdown. The amalgamation did not really shine. 

Namit Malhotra's vision of scaling up Ramayana with Hollywood level visuals and re-interpret it as a cross between real history and mythology is visible but it doesn't yield stunning results. The effort and conscious decision behind action choreography to not let Rama be seen as a superhuman is understandable but lacks the impact. Similarly, most hyped portions also feel like inspired from other big films rather than being true to well-known text. 

Maybe a grounded and more realistic approach like Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey could've been refreshing than this film. Overall, the movie doesn't really has the same impact as Sampoorna Ramayanam, Seetha Kalyanam and Sita Ramula Kalyanam, Bhookailas kind of films and Hindi Ramayana serial. It tries to be different yet seems to have over-stretched material as the intended awe and impact are missing. It is decent attempt and better than Adipurush. 

Positives: 
Yash's performance
VFX and production design
Detailing in Fur, Animal animation
Intent to be different
Epic Scale

Negatives: 
Slow Narrative
Over-stretching portions without impact
Lacklustre Writing 
Several portions are executed lethargically
Music and BGM 

Bottomline: Scale and efforts are visible but lacks similar impact. One-time watchable and better than Adipurush. 

Rating: 2.75/5 

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this review are personal views/opinions shared by the writer and organisation does not hold a liability to them. Viewers' discretion is advised before reacting to them.