International reviews of Ramayana praise visuals but criticise narrative length
Critics have lauded the visual effects of Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana while calling the film's narrative bloated and exhausting.
International reviews for Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana have been released following its world premiere in Los Angeles, according to the Hindustan Times. While several critics praised the film's scale and visual effects, others criticised the narrative for being stuffed and the runtime for being exhausting.
Avi Offer of NYC Movie Guru described the film as a visually dazzling action adventure with great set and costume design. Brandon Zachary of Screen Rant rated the film 7/10, calling it an impressive cinematic achievement on a technical level. IndieWire gave the film a ‘B’ grade, with reviewer Christian Zilko noting that Tiwari achieved high production value despite the final product lacking a unique voice.
Some reviewers were more critical of the 2-and-a-half-hour runtime. NYC Movie Guru called the film bloated, clunky, and emotionally hollow, with Avi Offer adding that it would be an overproduced B-movie in a double feature with Sita Sings the Blues. Giovanni Lago of Next Best Picture gave the film 5/10, suggesting it might have worked better as a television adaptation.
Siddharth Adlakha of IGN provided the harshest assessment, rating the film 4/10. He stated the epic fell victim to clunky action, eye-sore CGI, and awkward AI lip-syncing. The film is the first part of a planned two-part series.
The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, and Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman. It is produced by Prime Focus Studios, DNEG, and Monster Mind Creations. The first part is scheduled for worldwide release on November 5, with the second part set for Diwali 2027.