Ramayana: The Epic

About the film

Ramayana: The Epic is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language computer-animated mythological action film from Maya Digital Media. Directed by Chetan Desai and produced by Ketan Mehta, it was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on 15 October 2010.

Plot

The plot begins with Dashratha and his three wives ruling the kingdom Kosala, with the capital Ayodhya. The king and queens perform a special ritual to pray for children. Soon, Dasratha has four sons: Rama from Kaushalya, Bharata from Kaikeyi, and Lakshman and Shatrughna from Sumitra. Rama becomes known as a virtuous warrior and Vishamitra asks Dashratha to send Rama to help him defeat the demoness Tadka. After this incident, Vishwamitra takes Rama and Lakshmana to King Janak's swayamvara for his daughter Sita. Rama wins the contest by lifting and breaking Shiva's bow, where he and Sita get married. The three brothers also marry Sita's other sister. Dashratha decides to make Rama as his successor. Kaikeyi agrees that as the eldest son, Rama deserves the throne.

However, Manthara tells Kaikeyi that if Rama is crowned king, the other queens will become more powerful and that they will harass Kaikeyi and Bharat. Manthara reminds Kaikeyi that she has two boons to ask of Dashratha, where she asks Dashratha to crown Bharata as king and send Ram into exile for fourteen years. Dashratha is pained to see him leaving, but Rama is determined not to disobey his father's orders. Lakshmana and Sita decide to join Rama in exile. Dashratha dies longing for Rama and Bharata refuses to be a part of his mother's conspiracy. Bharata follows Rama and asks him to come back, but Rama refuses, so Bharata takes his sandals back as a symbol of Rama's rule over Ayodhya. In exile, Agastya gifts the brothers divine weapons that make them invincible.

In the thirteen of exile, Ravana's sister Shurpanakha meets Rama in the forest and is attracted to him. When he politely declines her offer to come with her, she threatens to kill Sita. To protect them, Lakshman cuts off her nose. When Ravana hears of his sister's humiliation, he plans vengeance by harming Sita. In the forest, Sita sees a beautiful deer and asks Rama to capture it for her. Rama goes to find the deer and instructs Lakshman to protect Sita while he's gone. When Rama strikes the deer, he finds that it is actually a demon named Marich in disguise, and he calls out for Sita and Lakshman in Rama's voice. Sita urges Lakshmana to make sure Rama is fine, where Lakshman draws a divine line of security around her to protect her while she is alone, telling her that she should not cross the line under any circumstances.

Production

Ramayana is the directorial debut of Chetan Desai, the chairman and managing director of Maya Digital Media. More than 400 crewmembers worked on the film over a five-year period; the first three years were spent designing the characters, while the other two were devoted to actual production.

Release

In September 2010, Warner Bros. India acquired the rights to Ramayana: The Epic. This has made it India's second animated feature to be released by the local arm of a Hollywood studio, following Disney and Yash Raj's Roadside Romeo from 2008.

The film was released on 15 October 2010, during the festivity of Dussehra. 250 prints were screened in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions; English, Gujarati and Bengali versions have also been prepared. A North American release is scheduled for early 2011. Four days after its debut, Joginder Mahajan of Delhi expressed concern over the low box-office take.

Reception

Reporting for the Twitch Film site, Josh Hurtado said, "While the animation of this project may look crude to [Western] eyes based upon the trailer, it is still miles beyond anything we've seen India create in this department so far." Upon release, Indian Express gave it three stars out of five and commented that the animation was above par for the Indian animation industry, but singled out the Sanskrit dialogue. The Times of India also praised the animation, adding that "the special effects ... sizzle and crackle". Anupama Chopra of NDTV Movies gave it a mixed review, calling it a "faithful but dreary retelling". She came to the conclusion that "Ramayana is an ambitious step toward better homegrown cinema for children. I just wish it had more crackle."

Key details