Nitish Tiwari’s interpretation of Ramayana works best in portions of Yash. The KGF and Toxic actor brings a strong presence delivering a towering act. The backstory of Ravana exploring devas and asuras rivalry is the movie’s biggest highlight. But the film fails miserably when it comes Ranbir and Sai Pallavi as the beloved deities. Nitesh Tiwari doesn’t give Ranbir and Sai Pallavi much meat making them almost robotic. The romantic subplot is hardly heartwarming. Rakul Preet Singh as Surpankha fares much better. The director gives a good psychological insight into why Surpanakha wants Ram prepared to be his second wife

Starcast: Yash, Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Ravi Dubey, Rakul Preet Singh and others

Genre: Mythology

Direction, screenplay and dialogues: Nitesh Tiwari

Additional screenplay and dialogues: Sridhar Raghavan and Shreyas Jain

Based on: Valmiki Ramayan

Music: A R Rahman and Hans Zimmer

Cinematography: Pankaj Kumar and Mahesh Limaye

Producers: Namith Malhotra and Yash

Production companies: Prime Focus Studios, Monster Mind Creations and DNEG

Running time: 3 hours and 19 minutes

Nitish Tiwari’s Ramayana has been under intense scrutiny ever since the announcement. The reasons are numerous starting from the scars left by Om Raut’s Adipurush. The casting choices of Ranbir and Sai Pallavi as Ram and Sita have also left people divided. However, the bigger issue is epic itself occupying a significant place. Not much tinkering can be done particularly when you are adapting Valmiki’s Ramayan. The good news about Tiwari’s interpretation is that he and team have delivered stunning visuals. The Jatayu sequence which I will lot about later is alone worth the prize of the ticket. The movie also does a fine job in building up Ravana; how he grows into a rebel leader challenging the devas has been intricately written and enacted. At the same time the movie doesn’t quite become the epic it intends to.

I won’t get much into story here as they have been numerous adaptations of Ramayana over the years. Still for formality’s sake the film begins with the battle between devas and asuras and how Ravana becomes the clan leader. After this backstory we jump into Rama’s birth and how their paths intersect setting the base for part 11. There is also Sunny Deol’s special appearance as an introduction for Hanuman.

Nitish Tiwari’s direction works best in the scenes of Yash’s Ravan. Whether it’s the scene of young Ravan with Shobana playing mother or the grown up one these parts give the movie its most engaging moments. As a viewer you can sense Nitesh not being burdened with the epic.

In spite of another antihero post KFG and Toxic Yash manages to give it a different flavor. This holds particularly true of a scene where ten Yash’s are giving different opinions on what Ravan should do; this scene happens post Surpanaka’s nose cut.

Even Rakul’s Surpanaka in spite of the brief screen time comes across as a flesh and blood human being. Her reasons for pursuing Ram even prepared to be his second wife has been fleshed out well. Rakul particularly shines in a scene of anguish. Vivek Oberoi shows up briefly as Surpanakha’s husband. Its a brief but important role humanizing Surpanakha somewhat.

The visuals as already mentioned are absolutely breathtaking. The Jatayu sequence towards the end in particular combines scale with emotion perfectly. Anupam Kher doing voice over is especially brilliant here. The helplessness and immense sadness of Jatayu in not being able to save Sita is palpable.

The action bit of Jatayu attacking Ravana ferociously is also fantastic; the bird almost manages to beat Ravan. Ravi Dubey as Lakshman has more fun than Ranbir and Sai Pallavi combined. A sense of humor coupled with a more outward nature makes his scenes very enjoyable. He particularly shines in the scene of Sita doubting him and the subsequent reply.

AR Rahman and Hans Zimmer score is an odd mix; it works in parts, but the fusion is mismatched for a large part. A Sufi style song in particular sticks out like a sore thumb. The films biggest issue is the robotic characterization of Ram and Sita. Right from Ram’s introduction he is presented as a divine being; we don’t get much sense of how Ram grows up to be the person described in Valmiki’s epic. On quite a lot of occasions Ranbir seems to be playing another version of Sid or Bunny. This holds particularly true of portions depicting protagonists existential crisis.

Sai Pallavi too suffers from a similar thing. We are told that Sita is special with a sword wielding scene. However, in the final tally it doesn’t amount to much. There are a couple of moments where Sai Pallavi shines; one is a small action bit where she saves herself and the second is a scene of jealousy. But apart from that there is nothing much. Even the romantic interactions lack the required fervor.

The film also suffers from a rushed screenplay: for example, the scenes leading up to Ram’s Vanvas is written in a fast forward manner as a result it’s difficult to fully feel the pain of Arun Govil’s Dasharatha. This in spite of the actor doing a very fine job.

Final word: The movie will work best for those wanting style over substance and those not comparing some of Ramayana’s past versions.