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This anime version of Ramayana, an India-Japan co-production, is technically a re-release. It was first seen briefly in the 1990s, after premiering at a few film festivals. This remastered HD 4K version, freshly dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, as well as the original English dub, is in theatres now.
The advantage of animation is that it obviates the need to balance the tricky connections between real-life actors and their epic counter-parts in a revered-down-the-ages text. And that’s why Yugo Sako, the creator of the anime film, chose the genre. The quality of the animation on display is top-notch, even though some of the characters do appear paler than they should.
There’s a timelessness which accompanies each re-telling if the film-making is stellar, and if the intention is to stay faithful to the spirit of the epic. Again, on this metric, the familiarity makes the viewing fun: you wait for the high-points — the exile (vanvaas) Ram (Yudhvir Dahiya), the prince of Ayodhya, along with Sita (Sonal Kaushal) and Lakshman (Uplaksh Koccher), the humiliation of Surpanakha, the abduction of Sita by the Lankan lord Ravan (Rajesh Jolly), the discovery of Sita’s hiding place by Hanuman (Archit Maurya), the building of the Ram Setu, the battle of Ram’s soldiers (sena), and the triumphant return to Ayodhya.
Watch Ramayana: The Legend Of Prince Rama Trailer:
The backstory of the film– it’s making and release turned contentious at the time when the Rath Yatra was at its height, and there were VHP protests against non-Indians making a film on a foundational epic — is fascinating.
The older Hindi dubbed version was voiced by a collection of Bollywood honourables, including Shatrughan Sinha as the omniscient narrator, Arun Govil as Lord Ram and Amrish Puri as Lankesh pati Ravan. Sadly the ‘master data’ of those versions was lost, according to the producers, which is why they had to re-dub in the Indian languages; the original English language dub, which was preserved in Japan, is still usable.
The importance of the film cannot be overstated at the present time: one of the ways to forget about misfires like ‘Ram Setu’ and ‘Adipurush’ is to embrace the purity of the filmmaking in this respectful version, even if it feels over-long and stretched in places.
I watched the Hindi dub, and enjoyed myself. Take yourselves and the kids to get reacquainted with one of the greatest epics ever told: this battle of good vs evil, peppered with timeless characters and stories-within-stories, is a solid family entertainer.
Ramayana: The Legend Of Prince Rama movie voiced by: Yudhvir Dahiya, Sonal Kaushal, Rajesh Jolly, Archit Maurya, Uplaksh Kochcher, Dishi Duggal
Ramayana: The Legend Of Prince Rama movie directors: Koichi Sasaki, Ram Mohan
Ramayana: The Legend Of Prince Rama movie rating: 3 stars
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