Ramayana: Part 1 Review — A Faithful, Breathtaking Spectacle That Misses the Music of Devotion
Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Part 1 is the most ambitious attempt yet to bring the Ramayana to the big screen, and it largely earns that ambition. It stays remarkably faithful to the Ramayana as Indian families have known it for generations. Its visual effects set a new benchmark for Indian cinema, and it has a cast without a weak link: Ranbir Kapoor as Sri Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, and Ravi Dubey as a quietly outstanding Lakshmana. Jatayu's last stand makes for a stirring finale. The film still stumbles in places. The Kaikeyi–Dasaratha confrontation that sets the exile in motion passes without the anguish it demands. Bala Kanda is skimmed, and Sita's birth is missing altogether. The portrayal of Sita as a warrior, drawn from the Adbhuta Ramayanam, will divide South Indian audiences. Most of all, A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer's score leaves untouched a centuries-old treasury of Rama bhakti music: the keerthanas of Thyagaraja and Bhadrachala Ramadasu.
