The VFX effects are what you’d expect from a run-of-the-mill video game or a mediocre fantasy show. But a film that supposedly cost thousands of crores? The audience deserves more.
The larger problem is that the monsters aren’t at all original. When Peter Jackson brought to life JRR Tolkien’s ogres and orcs, he wasn’t creating from scratch. Trolls and ogres were familiar territory for audiences—if a flat aesthetic category. But in designing his tar-drenched wretches, Jackson still created a distinct genre of monsters.
Even David Benioff and DB Weiss put their own spin on George RR Martin’s giants, wights, and the Night King.
Neither Malhotra—if he was involved in the project beyond supplying the much-touted Rs 4,000 crore—nor Tiwari bothered with this. They continued with Indian filmmakers’ long, unbroken tradition of shamelessly copying from the West.
The problem isn’t limited to the monsters. Look at the jewellery on the characters. It’s the same trinkets we’ve seen on TV serials. Even Adipurush, badly done as it was, did its own spin on Rama’s costume by giving him some leather armour. I also appreciated what Star Plus did with Sita’s early costumes in the series Siya Ke Ram. When you pay creatives real money to do real work, it shows.
Perhaps a substantial amount had to be spent on fixing up an ageing Ranbir Kapoor in post so he could pass off as a young Rama.
How could it have gone so wrong? The teaser proudly showcases “8-time Oscar-winning” VFX studio DNEG, which has worked on Interstellar (2014), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and all three Dunes (2021/2024/2026). Each of these projects has a distinct visual language. In fact, X nerds can’t get enough of Dune’s worldbuilding elements. So why did the company slap some NPC monsters on Ramayana and call it a day?
The production team for the film includes the likes of Ramsey Avery, who worked on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Ravi Bansal, who worked on Dune 2. It can’t have been a lack of talent. Was it a lack of courage? Did the producer worry that audiences would reject an original take on the epic? Most likely.
Having spent many, many crores on what looks like a cinematic Ram Mandir, Malhotra couldn’t risk originality. It was safer to pull references from the known and the loved, and churn out a palatable slopfest.
Who knows, if Adipurush didn’t exist, Malhotra and Tiwari’s Ramayana would’ve felt like a fresh, shiny take on the well-known story. But the Prabhas-starrer continues to haunt desi audiences even today.
The one saving grace for the new film seems to be its take on the Pushpak Viman. The design is still a distant cousin of something one would find in Star Plus’ Mahabharat series, but it takes a cue from the mythical plane’s name (pushp means flower). The lotus-cum-hot air balloon concept looks downright delicious. If only the same idea had been applied everywhere else.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
