Ramayana - The Epic Movie Reviews

Everybody agrees that the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the best stories that can ever be told. In terms of characters, drama and emotions, they are the quintessential potboilers that can never go wrong.... Unless they end up in the hands of unimaginative animators who are hell-bent on transforming the epical tales into boring, inanimate sermons. Now haven't we seen so many of these films, of late?

Ramayana The Epic, a 3D Animated adaptation of the Ramayana is Maya Entertainment’s first theatrical 3D CGI feature film. And even though India has dabbled with 3D earlier, the quality of CGI in this film is marvelous. The movie features voices of Manoj Bajpai as Rama, Juhi Chawla as Sita, Ashutosh Rana as Raavana, Mukesh Rishi as Hanuman. It has been directed by Chetan Desai and was in making for two and half years with a team of over 400 people

When asked to comment on the quality of animation films produced in India, I recall commenting that we are still in infancy stages right now, still grappling with how to make animation movies, still confused about the target audience and how to compete with feature films which remain the first choice of moviegoers… The thought of competing or comparing with animation films in the West just doesn't arise at this point.

Ramayana The Epic is a faithful but dreary retelling of one of our favourite and most familiar stories. Since almost everyone in a theatre knows the plot, the pleasure in this animated version can only come from the telling of the tale. Debutant director Chetan Desai gives us impressive visuals, grand battles and perhaps India’s first Lord Ram with six-pack abs. But the plodding screenplay undermines these efforts. Ramayana The Epic doesn’t soar enough or arouse the requisite shock and awe.

Ramayana: The Epic' is a serviceable animation film based on popular episodes from the sprawling tome. The animation itself is detailed and impressive, but the film ultimately is weighed down by stodgy writing, and by a narrative that's too conventional for a story this familiar. The screenplay doesn't venture too far from popular highlights of the story, focusing on Lord Ram's forced exile from Ayodhya, Raavan's abduction of Sita, and Ram's revenge on Raavan

The tale is an oft-told one. If you haven't heard of it, you have probably lived under a rock (and happily so). Rama's wife Sita gets kidnapped by demon king Raavan. He crosses hill and dale and several miles and even an ocean to get her back and is assisted by his brother and an army of shapeshifting monkeys among other assorted animals. It's India's definitive good triumphs over evil epic.