Ramayan will not be a"Global craze", its pathetic

Yesterday the much awaited trailer of Ramayan 2026 dropped, this is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, made on a whopping 4000 CRORE budget. As ridiculous as that number is, I need to talk about this trailer and the press release surrounding it. If you haven’t watched the trailer, i suggest you watch it first and then read the article.

We’ll discuss everything, CGI, acting, cast, costume, sets, music, director and the press. If you are not into movies a lot, it might be hard to pick out details, so stick around and let’s get into it because i have a lot to say.

Note: These are my personal opinions from which you might disagree, feel free to express your thoughts in the comments.

I am talking about the teaser not the trailer in this section because the teaser was so grand and wonderful that it actually got me so hyped up, remember i am desperately hoping for the success of this movie and when the first look dropped, I believed in this project whole heartedly.

I mean look at the sheer scale at which its being produced, i can still hear the soul shivering music. I loved how they didn’t show us a lot in here and just gave us a little hint that the grandeur of the project. Till this point I was totally rooting for this film.

Since Ramayan is one of the most revered epics in the world, choosing the cast was a crucial task and I am not mad about any of the choices to be honest. If you don’t know, here are the cast members:

• Ranbir Kapoor: Ram

• Yash: Ravan

• Sai Pallavi : Sita

• Ravi Dubey: Lakshman

• Sunny Deol: Hanuman

• Arun Govil: Dashrath

• Rakul Preet Singh: Surpanakha

• Sheeba Chaddha: Manthara

These are the main characters and i don’t find anyone sticking out like a sore thumb. I mean yeah, were there way better actresses to play the role of Surpanakha, yes but i am willing to give Rakul a chance. I am stoked about Sai pallavi playing Sita, an absolute gem of casting choice. Sheeba Chaddha as Manthara was THE BEST casting choice of the whole movie, I am very very excited for her part in the film.

Now when it comes to the main two, Ram and Ravan, to my surprise, I loved Yash in the role. I think he brings a certain rage and grandeur to the role, though we have to see if he succeeds in displaying the devotee aspect of Ravan as well.

Ranbir Kapoor as Ram was met with huge attention, but not necessarily good attention. A lot of people are saying now that a longer trailer has dropped, they find Ranbir’s acting a bit too bland and boring for the role; most people cannot see him as Ram and are quick to relate him to old iconic roles. Some say he looks too old, too polished, too bland, too stiff. I do agree that Ranbir does seem a little stiff in his acting, especially in shots where he is required to be still and observing, but in comparison, he really shines in emotionally engaging scenes. I guess we just have to wait and see how well he does, because there is no doubt he is an amazing actor.

Now that we know all that, we can finally get into the trailer itself. The Ramayan trailer was release on 30th July at 4:30 AM because it was a good Auspicious time (shubh muhurat). This video was 4 minute, which is suspicious long for a trailer. So lets, see the good and bad aspects of the same.

The trailer plays out in a one by one sequence format, starts with Ravan capturing Lanka, us meeting the royal family, the vanvaas, Supurnakha etc… But why? We already know the epic, everybody does. What was the need to spoon feed us the plot? Well this question will be answered in the later sections.

This structure was one of the most disappointing things about the trailer; I feel like a musically powered trailer would have been so, so much better. Especially when you have composers such as A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer. An absolutely wasted opportunity.

I was so excited to see what they have planned for the sets of the film because not only do they have an enormous budget, they have a story that requires huge sets and people who are capable of creating them. But I have to say I’m somewhat… disappointed.

Let’s start with the good; the interior of the palace is GORGEOUS. I mean, I gasped at the beauty of the set design. The whole palace and Lanka are crafted so gracefully. Look at these scenes; aren’t they beautiful?

Now when we talk about the bad ones, there are a few that genuinely made me laugh. First of all, there is a serious and I mean SERIOUS color grading problem in this movie because why is it so inconsistent? Some shots look amazing, but some are so bright I’m blinded, and some are so dark I can’t see shit.

Perhaps the most awful part of the trailer was the fake forest set. My heart hurts to imagine what could have been our reality. These shots of the forests look so artificially generated; it’s painful.

Ok, are the costumes historically accurate? Fuck no. But do they look good? Yeah, yeah, they do. Before I pick out the bad, let me just say, Sita’s costumes are so exquisite, and the jewelry of every character is very on point.

There seems to be a big debate about the attire of women in this movie. People are saying that the female character should not be wearing a modern blouse that is a colonial outfit forced on Indian women to suit the British idea of modesty. Moreover, people noticed that Ma Sita is fully covered head to toe, but Surpnakha is wearing an antariya. This is imposing the “good women cover themselves head to toe and bad women wear short clothes” stereotype. While an Antariya is a traditional Indian attire, it is portrayed in a sexy vamp outfit in the trailer.

But it is also important to understand that we as a country are very sensitive to our religious beliefs, and if Ma Sita were dressed in a historically accurate sari, then the uproar would have been extremely intense, so it makes sense that they went with the safe choice. But I still find it weird that they chose to keep Surpnakha in an antariya.

Finally, the main dish, the 4000 crore dish. In one sentence “sometimes it may be good, sometimes it may be shit”

You know, the CGI in this film is nowhere near bad, but because Namit Malhotra (producer) hyped it up so, so much, it looks alright. Namit really went podcast to podcast raving about how amazing the visual effects are going to be, and so, rightfully, the audience is not satisfied with the mediocre result. The company responsible for the CGI is DNEG, which has won multiple awards, including an Oscar, for movies such as Dune and Oppenheimer.

And Namit Malhotra had the guts to compare the vision of Ramayan to these movies. One of the most talked about shots is the look of the Asur in the movie, which looks very Game of Thrones monster-like and has no attributes of Indian Asurs.

As I already mentioned, the forest scenes look very fake and artificial. And some of the other looks including:

Is this a video game? Compare this to the aerial shot of Bahubali, and you will notice the huge difference. S.S. Rajamouli did it with a 400 crore budget more than 10 years ago.

Please don’t get me started on whatever the fuck this is. But there were also a lot of good moments in the trailer, which showed us a glimpse of what the film might actually be about. Shots like:

These scenes like got me hoping that the movie will have better shots and sets.

Ramayan is directed by Nitesh Tiwari, who is a well-reputed director with films such as Chillar Party, Bhootnath Returns, Dangal, and Chhichhore under his belt. But can I be so, so honest? I don’t think he has the experience of handling such a massive project; working with a budget of 4000 crore is an extremely hard feat for the most experienced of all directors and especially for someone who has never worked with projects of big scale ever.

I mean, he is incredible in emotionally engaging movies and delivers great tales, but Ramayan is an epic that is not worth such a gamble. In my opinion only two directors are capable of handling such an intense movie: SS Rajamouli and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. These two are the pinnacle of modern Indian cinema, and I believe they are very respected and experienced with massive budgets, especially Rajamouli sahab, who is known for making epics.

But I am very excited to see what he brings to the screen; I do think he can deliver a great film.

Now we come to the final and most infuriating aspect of the whole movie, the press surrounding it.

Namit is dead set on making Ramayan a global craze, and so the whole cast has been on a North American press tour, pandering and begging white people to be interested in our tales, but it’s just… sad. Like they don’t care and you are just forcing it down their throats.

And this is where the “pathetic” in the title comes from; it is not the movie, but the press tour is so sad and pathetic.

Can you imagine if they did the same press tour in Asian countries? Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Bhutan, Myanmar, hell, even East Asia. This is a tale of our people, and we are getting the leftovers of white people; it is so disappointing. I get that they want to show the West that India is not the poor helpless country that they think it is; the representation of brown people and Indians is very stereotypical in Western media, and it is understandable that they want to combat it, but this is not the way to do it.

It may seem like I want this movie to fail, but that is not the case; in fact, I desperately want this to be a success. I love what they are attempting. But I can’t help but criticize; even so, I hope for the best and wish it all the success.

Well now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Video tapes to return