Nitesh Tiwari and Namit Malhotra’s film, , has left the audience impressed. Although the film has received some mixed reviews from domestic critics, international media and journalists have heaped praise on the magnum opus production. The reviews speak volumes for the film, as many even compared it with Hollywood hits like Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, Disney’s The Lion King and James Cameron’s Avatar.
Film critic Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described Ramayana as “highly enjoyable”.
An excerpt from his review mentioned: “With its giant canvas and some truly beautiful sunset skyscapes, this very enjoyable film has a little of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and even Disney’s The Lion King (the latter surely influenced the animal-kingdom tableaux). The bizarre flying machine piloted by Ravana (who does not have the ability to fly as such) has something engagingly Gilliamesque about it. As so often with Indian cinema, this movie reminds you of the forthright, unselfconscious storytelling energy that popular Hollywood films had in the 1950s and 60s, the era of sword-and-sandal. It’s a rather amazing adventure.”
Avi Offer of NYC Movie Guru dubbed the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer as ‘a visually dazzling action adventure’ adding praise for the costume and sets.
Giovanni Lago of Next Best Picture rated the film five out of 10, impressed by the portrayal of Yash as Ravana and the film music by Rahman and Zimmer.
Sajin Shrijith, in his review for The Week, congratulated the makers and called the film a success. “I’m happy to report that the makers of “Ramayana: Part 1″ have succeeded at this tremendous challenge, even if it’s not what I would call a completely wholesome project. It gets the basics right. The essence of Valmiki’s work, which this film follows closely, albeit with minor enhancements, remains intact,” he wrote.
The critics also compared it to Hollywood films, justifying its massive budget of ₹4,000 crore for the two-part film.
“It literally looks like a Hollywood-produced epic with an enormous canvas imagined and rendered with virtual production technology, as seen in “Avatar”. It inspires, to an extent, the same kind of awe that the James Cameron blockbuster did, because no matter how many Hollywood films we have seen, we have to keep in mind that this is an INDIAN film accomplishing this feat for the first time,” his review added.
will release on Diwali 2028.
