Ramayana : Rise of a Legend - An Absolute Sundar Kaand

What are the odds that two epic poems, one from Western civilization and one from Indian, each composed more than 2,500 years ago, get a fantastic cinematic treatment, in the exact same year nearly 3 millennia later? If that isn't a divine coincidence, then I don't know what is. Even the principal themes of both stories - The Odyssey and The Ramayana - are remarkably similar. (I assume by now that there's no such thing as a spoiler for this, the most well known of globally famous tales, after all these centuries). From the hero's long absence and arduous journey, to an abducted queen being the trigger for a war, to fighting various monsters along the way, to the wives remaining faithful against all odds, to sacred bows being a rite of passage. Despite these many similarities, each maintains a distinct ethos that is uniquely of their place in the world.

Any such endeavor, bringing this revered classic to the screen, especially one with religious overtones and Lord Ram to boot who is number one on the current political charts, in today's manufactured outrage-ready, trigger happy, social media world, is fraught with peril. (Writing a review of such material is equally so 😊). As the ghastly Adipurush (2023) showed, just taking the amazing story and presenting it in the most perfunctory manner with a tapori tadka and assuming the audience will lap it up, is a fool's errand. Fortunately for us, three years later, Nitesh Tiwari of Dangal (2016) fame, has pulled it off, and pulled it off spectacularly.

He makes a bold screenplay choice by dedicating the first 30 minutes or so exclusively to the origin story of Raavan, played superbly by Yash, or "Rocking Star" Yash as his screen credits usually state, before the Kannada lobby pounces on me. The battle between the Devas and the Asuras for control of the three worlds with Indra Dev (Kunal Kapoor) arriving on the winged elephant Airavat showcases the brilliant quality of the VFX right away. It's absolutely top notch throughout the movie on par with the best of Hollywood. That's not a surprise given that the producer Namit Malhotra is the founder of Prime Focus and the CEO of DNEG. Both these companies have innumerable VFX credits to their name from Inception (2010) to Interstellar (2014) to Dune (2021), the Star Wars trilogy to Transformers to Harry Potter. With that kind of DNA, the visual effects are leagues ahead of anything seen in Indian cinema to date. I saw it in 3D and that enhanced the experience further.

After that the story moves thru the first 3 Kaands (books) of the Valmiki Ramayan - the Bal Kaand (childhood, sage learning, breaking of Shiva's bow and marriage to Sita), the Ayodhya Kaand (the preparation for coronation, Mata Kaikeyi's demand for her 2 wishes goaded by her maid Manthra, and the beginning of the 14 year forest exile or vanwaas) and finally the Aranya Kaand (life in the various forests, the mutilation of Surpanakha and the abduction of Sita). It ends with the valiant but ultimately fatal attempt by Jatayu (voice over by Anupam Kher) to rescue Sita from Raavan's clutches on the wonderfully imagined and created Pushpak Viman, That entire climactic sequence is a great action piece as a finisher to this Part 1. We will have to wait till Diwali 2028 for the climactic Part 2.

The acting is of a uniformly high caliber by the entire cast. It's not over the top as we have grown accustomed to in other movies and TV serials of this genre and that's kudos to the director. Arun Govil as King Dashrath was a particularly inspired piece of casting given that his career defining role was as Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's landmark Doordarshan TV serial Ramayan nearly 40 years ago. Lara Dutta as Kaikeyi and Shobhana as Kaikesi (did Valmiki make a conscious choice by having the two main "evil women" have such similar sounding names?) are both good as the driving forces behind the narrative of the two male protagonists. Sheeba Chaddha as the evil Iago type instigator Manthra is always reliable. The stunning looking Rakul Preet Singh as the spurned Surpanakha is good too. Compared to all of them, Sai Pallavi as Sita seems subdued except for a few action sequences. Maybe it's a conscious choice by her and the director, but I want to reserve judgment on her till Part 2. On the male side, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman brings much needed levity and passion to the role.

Which brings us to Ram, played by Ranbir Kapoor and Raavan played by Yash, sorry once again, Rocking Star Yash. There was a lot of apprehension in the media and public about the casting of Ranbir as Ram with people bringing in all sorts of unnecessary extra curricular distractions about his personal life and culinary choices, and also comparisons to his character in his last film, Animal (2023). (I must once again reiterate to the haters whom I love to troll that I am an unabashed fan of that movie and have seen it thrice). He's a superb actor with a chameleon-like quality to inhabit each role he plays. It's obviously 180 degrees on the spectrum from Animal but that's precisely his forte. He brings the calmness and equanimity required for the role of Maryada Purshottam Ram without it tipping over into treacly sweet territory. But this movie undoubtedly belongs to Raavan. Yash brings multiple shades to the role rather than the stereotypical evil maniacal laughter toting villain. His tandav nritya is amazing, and the scene in which the mythical 10 heads are shown is a masterpiece of psychological interpretation. He's an antagonist worthy of being Ram's nemesis and I am looking forward to him in Part 2.

Happy Diwali to all and Jai Shri Ram !!

November 6, 2026