Ramayana – The Epic

Sometime back I had reviewed Toy Story 3 in which I had put down the definition of Animate. I had also gone on to wax eloquent about one Pixar Studios who have the expertise like no one else in this field. Also, I have been informed that a large chunk of animation movies are designed right here in India. It would seem we are the best when it comes to creating these movies. Then pray tell me why is that when we ourselves make an attempt to get into the business, we fall flat on our faces? Ramayana – The Epic adds to the long saga of failed attempts by Indian film makers to get into the field of animation. There is of course no point in getting into a story telling mode for what is probably the 2nd most popular piece of mythology that comes from this country (No points for guessing which one occupies the #1 slot). So lets delve right into why I am of the opinion that Ramayana – The Epic is a failure as an animation movie.


First of all, the animation seems robotic and not fluid by a country mile. Actually, what you could associate it with best is a puppet show. Quite surprising since it was touted as the best ever animation made to date etc. I personally felt that the movements in “Gayab Aya” which came to the fore 20 years back were much more fluid – not to mention that the entire series was extremely entertaining. Maybe Chetan Desai and co. could have learnt a few things from the creator of Gayab. Secondly, one gets into the voice overs. The choice of voices was not bad at all when u look at the names – Manoj Bajpai (Ram), Juhi Chawla (Sita) and Ashutosh Rana (Ravana). Quite an impressive voice cast. But these impressive names flatter to deceive. Manoj Bajpai seemed to make too much of an effort to sound like the “Sarva Guna Sampan” character he was trying to play. And Juhi Chawla did exactly the same thing to arrive @ Sita. The key to great voice overs is to sound like you would do normally. That is why Tom Hanks makes a fabulous choice for Woody. Also, the character should look like the artiste who is playing the voice over. The final product as such is very disappointing to say the least.

The stand out performance however is Ashutosh Rana as Ravana. Excellent use choice of voice over. Not to mention that everything that was associated with Ravana in the movie was executed very well. The conflict between the 10 heads which is probably the easiest thing to think of but extremely difficult to execute has been shown very well with a lot of intensity. The courtroom of Ravana is grand to say the least. The palaces of Ayodhya pale in comparison. One would be justified to wonder if this was the Ramayana or a propaganda for Ravana.

Lastly, Chetan Desai’s direction is weak to say the least. In the interest of squeezing everything in under 90 minutes, he rushes through the entire storyline. One could argue by saying that anything longer could have resulted in a big bore. But as a counter point, there should reasonable attention given to at least one aspect like say the final fight with Ravana. Here, we find a hotch potch that can be best described as “Jack of All Trades and Master of None”. Disappointing way to have spent a Saturday morning. 3 on 10 for this one.