Ramayana review: A visual triumph with an emotional void

Hyderabad: Some films arrive with expectations. Ramayana arrives with generations of memories. For many viewers, Ram is still inseparable from Arun Govil’s gentle smile, while Ramanand Sagar’s television adaptation remains the benchmark for bringing this epic to life. Any new version has to contend with that emotional connection before it can establish its own identity.

Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana takes on that challenge through sheer cinematic scale. This first instalment offers imposing worlds, spectacular battles and moments that demand a theatrical viewing. What it does not always offer is enough time to sit with its characters and feel the relationships that make their journeys matter.

I came away impressed by its ambition and moved by certain sequences. But between the visual highs, there were stretches where I wished the film would spend less time on another fight and more time on the people at the heart of the story.

Yash makes Ravana the film’s strongest presence

The opening belongs to Ravana, and Yash makes sure you remember it.

Tracing his pursuit of power, his boon and his rise, the first act establishes an antagonist who feels almost impossible to defeat. For audiences unfamiliar with the epic, this is an effective introduction to the threat that will shape everything that follows.

Yash brings menace, pride and a commanding physical presence to the role. His performance reminded me of Ranveer Singh’s dominance as Khilji: whenever he enters a scene, everyone else has to compete for your attention. The costumes add considerably to that effect, giving Ravana a visual identity that feels carefully considered.

The depiction of his ten heads is particularly interesting. Instead of treating them purely as a visual spectacle, Tiwari uses the sequence to suggest the conflict within him. It is one of the film’s more imaginative choices, marrying character and scale rather than letting one overwhelm the other.

The emphasis on Ravana makes sense. The problem is that the film does not consistently give Ram an equally compelling presence.

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Ranbir performs well, but the transformation feels incomplete

Ranbir Kapoor’s performance is not without sincerity. He brings restraint to Ram and handles the emotional demands of the role with care. Yet I struggled to see beyond Ranbir Kapoor, the star.

With a character this deeply embedded in people’s imaginations, delivering the lines convincingly is only part of the challenge. There needs to be a sense of serenity and conviction that makes the actor disappear into the role. For me, that transformation never fully happened.

Yash’s forceful presence makes the imbalance more noticeable. Ravana commands attention almost immediately, while Ram’s connection with the audience takes longer to build.

The film follows Ram from childhood through his training, his understanding of dharma, his marriage to Sita and the circumstances leading to his exile. Individually, several of these scenes work. Together, they feel tightly compressed, as though the film is trying to reach every major milestone without allowing enough space between them.

There is a difference between recognising a familiar moment and feeling its full emotional weight. Ramayana sometimes relies too heavily on the audience bringing that feeling into the theatre.

The women leave an impression

One of the film’s more welcome choices is the strength it gives its female characters.

Sai Pallavi’s Sita has dignity and resolve, and the film allows her to stand alongside Ram and Lakshman with a presence of her own. Her involvement during the confrontation with the forest army is a striking example of that approach.

Kaikeyi and Manthara also make an impression. The events leading to the exile are among the better directed portions of the film, with the performances and emotional stakes briefly taking precedence over spectacle.

Surpanakha receives a backstory too, giving her more context than a brief appearance would have allowed. These choices suggest an interest in exploring the characters beyond their most familiar moments, even if the film’s crowded structure limits how far it can go.

Ravi Dubey is effective as Lakshman, while characters such as Bharat, Shatrughan and Kaushalya remain largely in the background. That is partly the difficulty of adapting such an expansive epic, but their limited presence still affects the emotional texture of the story.

The visuals deserve the big screen

Visually, Ramayana delivers much of what its scale promises.

The VFX work well in most sequences, particularly when the film embraces the divine and fantastical elements of its world. I especially liked the depictions of Brahma and Vishnu, along with the presentation of Ravana’s ten heads. There is imagination here, supported by costumes and production design that help make the world feel grand.

The standout, however, is Jatayu’s confrontation with Ravana.

It is a breathtaking sequence, and one of the strongest reasons to watch the film in a theatre. Crucially, the spectacle has an emotional purpose. The danger, resistance and desperation give the action weight beyond the technical achievement.

That sequence demonstrates what the film can accomplish when its visuals serve a moment that already matters. I wanted more of that balance elsewhere.

Too many battles, too little breathing room

The pacing is where Ramayana becomes less assured.

Some important relationships and turning points pass quickly, while several fight sequences continue beyond what they contribute to the story. Between those battles, certain dialogue scenes feel slow without offering enough emotional depth to justify the change in pace.

The issue is not simply that the film runs for more than three hours. It is how those hours are distributed.

A story of this scale needs action, but it also needs quieter exchanges that establish affection, loyalty, resentment and loss. Without enough of those moments, even beautifully staged developments can feel like episodes being checked off.

Viewers who grew up with the epic may feel those gaps more strongly because they know what lies between the scenes. Those encountering it for the first time may find the progression easier to accept, although the relationships could still benefit from more room to develop.

An emotional score that becomes predictable

The background score left me with mixed feelings.

During some of the emotionally heavy scenes, the music worked beautifully. There were moments when I had tears in my eyes, and the score played a considerable part in drawing out that response.

Across the film, however, the music began to feel repetitive. The sound associated with Hans Zimmer’s contribution did not consistently have the freshness I had hoped for. Certain cues made the emotional direction of a scene predictable before the performances had a chance to establish it.

A powerful score can deepen a moment. Here, it sometimes seemed too eager to announce how powerful that moment was supposed to be. More restraint and variation would have made the stronger passages stand out even further.

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Verdict

Ramayana is a visually impressive opening chapter with a commanding Yash, thoughtful costume design and several sequences that make excellent use of the big screen. Its portrayal of the women adds welcome strength, and the Jatayu sequence is a genuine highlight.

But the emotional storytelling does not always match the visual ambition. Ranbir’s performance left me aware of the actor when I wanted to believe completely in the character. The uneven pacing, excessive fights and repetitive musical cues also hold the film back.

There is enough here to make me curious about the next chapter. There is also enough to make me wish this world had the space of a long series, where its relationships could develop with the same attention given to its battles.

As a spectacle, Ramayana frequently delivers. As an emotionally absorbing retelling of a beloved epic, it still has room to grow.

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