Ramayana Part 1 Movie Review: Ranbir Kapoor-Namit Malhotra conjure up the perfect epic for this Kalyuga
Ramayana Part 1 Movie Review: Can Namit Malhotra, whose clear ownership of this latest cinematic re-telling of Ramayana been a constant talking point, have conjured up just the right version of the beloved epic for this age of Kalyug?
Having been done in by the horror that was Adipurush, anything would have been better. But something about the crescendo of publicity that accompanied every single act of constructing this one, made me wary. Would this also be one of those high-profile projects claiming the big, bigger, biggest mantle which would prove to be a big fat zero?
I’m here to tell you that my fears have largely been unfounded. I took time to submit to the goings-on, on screen, but by the half way mark, I’d been convinced, and settled into the shenanigans of Lankapati Dashanan aka Ravana (Yash) and the fitting responses of Rama (Ranbir Kapoor) and Sita (Sai Pallavi) and Lakshman (Ravi Dubey), as well as the host of colourful characters, most of whom we know as well as our family members.
Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama and Sai Pallavi as Sita in Ramayana, with Ravie Dubey playing Lakshman.
As advertised, this Ramayana, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, is unapologetically bigger than any other iteration we have seen before. Its cast takes its time to settle into the groove, but once it does, it gets going. The background music is Hans Zimmer- AR Rahman jodi on full throttle, and there’s enough sorcery and thrills and adventure to keep the occasional blandness at bay, and undemanding adults and kids happy.
Condensing a mammoth epic whose cultural, religious influences have continued to shape our society and polity through the ages, was never going to be an easy task, but credit where it’s due, the makers have managed to tell their story without being overwhelmed by it – yes, there’s scale and size of the kind Indian cinema hasn’t seen before, but there’s also the very desi mix of melodrama and emotion, which works for a film like this, which has been created for universal viewing.
As befits a film which the makers wanted to go international with, Part One (Part 2 releases next Diwali, a whole year later) is a mix of many influences: a jumble of Game Of Thrones, Lord Of The Rings, KGF, nodding all the while to the version that most Indians are familiar with, Ramanand Sagar’s TV series, overlaid with the aesthetics of Amar Chitra Katha, as well as, of course, Raja Ravi Varma, without which no Indian epic can be contemplated.
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Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Part 1.
Well into the first hour, it looked as if it would be a mixed bag, with its bouquet of characters — no introduction needed — trying to find their stride in one set piece after another. The start didn’t blow me away: too many pop-cultural influences tumbling around, calling attention to themselves, is never a good look.
But slowly, you can see the reasoning behind the stylistic choices: is there any point doing understated when our eyes have been blinded by billionaire-driven excesses and industrial strength jewellery? The sheen of real gold is not bright enough, so this Ramayana goes full glitter mode: the gilt-edged palaces and chariots aren’t classy bronzy-golden but massy-brassy. Everyone, including Raja Dashrath (Arun Govil, yes, the very one who played Ram back in the day) and his three queens — Kaushalya (Indira Krishnan), Sumitra (Sonal Jha) and Kaikeyi (Lara Dutta being Lara Dutta) — is laden with heavy gems. As are demons and devatas, who come and go as and when the plot requires them to.
What rescues the film from its insistent outsizeness — and the occasional aspect-ratio problem — are its array of mostly familiar characters, performed by actors who have all done their job well. That it was going to be a huge CGI-laden actioner, was never hidden; what we were waiting for were the memorable moments — the Ramayana is one of the most memoralised epics in the world, no exaggeration — which would transport us. We have to wait, though, till the Ram-milaai jodi of the Ayodhya ka rajkumar and Mithila ki rajkumari, along with their faithful anuj to go into vanvaas for the film to really finds its sur.
Yash playing Ravana in Ramayana: Part 1.
Ranbir, who has always managed to get into the skin of everything he’s played till now, including the animalesque Animal, starts off strangely subdued, but steadies into his role as the Maryada Purushottam. We get momentarily distracted by the fact that his double role as Parashuram comes off more impactful, but it is all too brief: Ranbir finally cuts loose in Aaranya Kaandam, when he is in the forest with Sita and Lakshman — that very ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ sequence in which he leaps across trees and branches, his arrows finding an unerring mark, vanquishing a pair of deadly demons, with a bit of help from his equally agile companions, is a stand-out.
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I also took some time to wrap my head around Sai Pallavi’s Sita, her boyfriend blush reminding me of Zendaya’s look, but she is such a good actor that she gets there: watch her as she jousts with Yash’s Ravan, as he calls out Bhikshaaam Dehi, stepping outside the Lakshman Rekha, into his waiting winged chariot. Ravi Dubey as Lakshman is good, too: he’s a good fit for this Ramayana, which needed to be both modern and contemporary without losing its traditional moorings. On that note, we may need to ask why Suparnakha (Rakul Preet Singh) is always togged out in a fetching corset, or would that be a quibble we can ignore?
While we are told that it takes inspiration from all the many Ramayanas there are in the world, with Tulsidas and Valmiki taking centre-stage, the filmmakers also ask us to go back to the source. Which, in my book, is wonderful. As is the careful keeping away from the sort of religious bigotry which could easily have made this film something else other than one of the most thrilling stories, full of kings and queens, good guys and bad guys, to come out of India.
What can be better than hearing more of the softer, gentler Jai Siya Ram, rather than the muscular Jai Shri Ram? Yes, the latter phrase is implicit, but not, thankfully, in our face. I don’t know what the next part brings, but for now, I’m happy that this is the route Namit Malhotra and co chose.
Ramayana Part 1 Movie Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Yash, Sunny Deol, Ravi Dubey, Anupam Kher, Rakul Preet Singh, Vivek Oberoi, Kunal Kapoor, Adinath Kothare, Arun Govil, Indira Krishnan, Saurabh Sachdeva, Lara Dutta
Ramayana Part 1 Movie Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Ramayana Part 1 Movie Rating: 3 stars
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.