Nirmala Sitharaman recalls watching Ramayana The Legend of Prince Rama for the first time: ‘A Japanese cultural treasure’

While the Hindu epic Ramayana has inspired numerous adaptations and served as the foundation for many more works, the Japanese anime Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1993) stands out as one of the most celebrated. Conceived by Yugo Sako and Vijay Nigam, the anime was directed by Koichi Sasaki and Ram Mohan. Now, 32 years after its original release, the film is all set to return to the big screens. Among its many admirers worldwide, who are awaiting the movie’s re-release, is Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman.

Ahead of the film’s new premiere date, Sitharaman took to social media to share her fond memories of watching it for the first time. “A beautiful animated Ramayana. Fondly remember watching this Japanese cultural treasure sometime back. Was screened at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in 1993. It now releases in the big screen (sic),” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter) while sharing the trailer of the anime’s Tamil version.

Watch Ramayana – The Legend Of Prince Rama trailer here:

The 4K digitally remastered Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama will hit theatres in India on January 24, 2025, in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages. While its screenplay was written by Narendra Sharma, Rani Burra, Ram Mohan, Koichi Sasaki, Hiroshi Onogi and Yugo Sako, the film’s music was composed by Vanraj Bhatia. Meanwhile, Kazuyuki Kobayashi’s served as its animation director. The voice cast features Nikhil Kapoor as Rama, Rael Padamsee as Sita, Uday Mathan as Ravana, Mishal Varma as Lakshmana, Noel Godin as Hanuman, Bulbul Mukherjee as Dasharatha and Madhulika Varma as Kaikeyi.