Movie Review: Namit Malhotra’s ‘Ramayana Part 1’ is grandeur without a soul

Ramayana Part 1 offers visual grandeur but struggles to capture the simplicity and devotion at the heart of the epic. While Yash stands out as Ravan, Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi fail to fully embody their iconic characters.

In its efforts to mount an awe-inspiring screen experience with grand design elements and wondrous VFX, the movie simply loses on the essence of a mythology that has been so endearing down the generations.

Ramayana for ages has served as an enduring moral compass and its appeal lies in its simplicity and directness. Producer Namit Malhotra and director Nitesh Tiwari sought to turn it into a visual spectacle, and they could have done that, but without missing the soul of it.

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The movie starts laying the foundation from the battle of Devas and Asuras and how Ravan with his boons from Lord Brahma emerges as the one to lead the Asuras in a series of battles to reign supreme. How it evolves in Lord Vishnu’s avatar as Sri Ram to vanquish the evil forces is known to all. No need to dwell much on it.

In fact, the epic is well laid out with every step already in the realms of known and the challenge of a movie maker is how it is presented on the screen. Ramanand Sagar’s ‘Ramayan’ continues to hold its place in its telling of the epic while ‘Ramayana:The Legend of Prince Rama’, the Indo-Japanese animated film, held its appeal with the younger generation.

Namit Malhotra has been ambitious in taking the epic to global arena and he did turn it into a grand exercise. The visual presentation is sumptuous in parts of the movie but at times one does end up with a feeling of being with a PlayStation.

Though the epic has every character well etched and neatly defined, that does not come to the fore on the screen. Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama appears stiff and reluctant, clearly weighed down by the fact that he is playing the most defining personality of Hindu mythology. Though excelling in action scene, he sorely misses on radiating the divine aura of Rama that sages over the ages have written about, poets sang paeans about, and devotees worshipped.

Sai Pallavi as Sita fails to do what Dipika Chikhlia did in Ramanand Sagar’s tele-series. She is good in parts but fails to replicate the distinctive emotional aura of the characterization.

In terms of casting, ‘Ramayana Part 1’ is owned by Yash as he comes up with a spellbinding performance as Ravan. From the word go, he dominates the movie with little space left for others and infuses a certain energy that enlivens the proceedings. He is clearly the winner in the movie.

Rakulpreet Singh as Surpanakha, Kajal Aggarwal as Mandodari, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman, Lara Dutta as Kaikeyi and Shobana as Kaikashi, does their bit. The much hyped music by AR Rahman and Hans Zimmer fails to elevate the movie and clearly is a disappointment.

Incidentally, the only time the half filled auditorium for the first day first show cheered was towards the end titles when a glimpse for the movie’s second installment was presented with Hanuman’s entry.

Namit Malhotra’s effort to make ‘Ramayana Part 1’ with global benchmark missed one key aspect that makes the epic what it is – devotion. There are several aspects and characters that resonate with devotion for Rama that got skipped – from Ahalya to Kevat to Shabari.

Indeed, epics are hard to translate to the celluloid.