Sunil Lahri, who played Lakshman in Ramanand Sagar’s television series Ramayan, has shared a mixed review of Nitesh Tiwari’s big screen Ramayana after watching the film. In a video posted on social media on 11 November, Lahri called the experience bittersweet and said the film had no sense of divinity or devotion. He praised its scale and visual effects, but said several important scenes were missing and the dialogue in many scenes lacked dignity.
Sunil Lahri on the scale and visual effects
Sunil Lahri said the film looked grand and expensive, with strong production values. In his video, he said, “It is a grand spectacle made on a massive budget, and its visual effects are truly world-class.” He also praised the cinematography and the cast. “Some scenes are outstanding,” he said, and the actors had taken their roles seriously.
Sunil Lahri played Lakshman in Ramayan, which aired on Doordarshan between 1987 and 1988. The series starred Arun Govil as Ram and Deepika Chikhlia as Sita. That link is why his view of the new film has drawn attention. The new Ramayana, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, stars Ranbir Kapoor as Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana and Ravi Dubey as Lakshman. It opened in theatres on 5 November as the first part of a two-part adaptation.
Sunil Lahri on the scenes he found weak
Sunil Lahri said the emotional scenes and the dialogue had not received enough attention. “In my opinion, certain sequences, particularly the emotional scenes, could have been handled better. I feel that not enough attention has been paid to some of the dialogues and important moments, while a few significant scenes are missing altogether,” he said.
He named two episodes in particular. He found the Parashurama sequence weak, and said the Ahalya episode was missing entirely. He also objected to the way Shurpanakha addressed Ram in one scene, and said Sita’s manner of addressing Ram could have been handled with more care. In his caption for the video, Sunil Lahri wrote, “Watched the new Ramayan. It was a bittersweet experience. There was no sense of divinity or devotion. Several important scenes are missing, and the dialogue in many scenes lacks the dignity that should be present in a film like this. Ravana has been glorified quite a lot.”
Summing up, Sunil Lahri said the film put power ahead of devotion. “In my opinion, the film focuses more on grandeur and power than on devotion. It is more Shakti Pradhan (centred on power) than Bhakti Pradhan (centred on devotion),” he said. Before watching the film, he had said its music could have carried more of the flavour of Ayodhya and Mithila. Even so, he wished the makers and the cast well, and ended his video by asking viewers to watch the film and form their own opinion.
Nitish Bharadwaj withdraws his praise for Ramayana
Sunil Lahri is not the only actor from the old television epics to change his view of the film. Nitish Bharadwaj, who played Krishna in B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharat, had praised the trailer and predicted an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category. He had called the film “Bharat’s next gift to world cinema after Satyajit Rai and Shekhar Kapoor” and said he would watch it at least five times.
After watching the film, Bharadwaj withdrew that praise in a post on Instagram on 10 November. “I WITHDRAW MY INITIAL APPRECIATION. I am deeply upset and disappointed with this film. I withdraw my earlier post about it. I cannot find a single good word to say about it,” he wrote. His objection was to the way Yash’s Ravana is shown. He said the film presents Ravana as “an exceptionally liberal, socially just and fair figure”, and that this “alters the moral framework of the Ramayan and undermines the very purpose of avataar.”
Bharadwaj also said a display of visual effects could not stand in for the values of the epic. “A spectacle of VFX can never substitute for the core values, philosophical depth and spiritual essence of this Mahakavya,” he wrote. He added that, in his view, the film did not deserve to represent Indian cinema internationally when its story misrepresented the country’s history, heritage and spiritual values.
What the two reviews mean for Ramayana
The two reactions point to the same argument: that a big budget and strong effects do not by themselves carry a retelling of the Ramayana. Some viewers have praised the scale and the effects, while others have said the emotional scenes and the dialogue fall short. Sunil Lahri’s video sits in the second camp, and Bharadwaj’s post goes further still. The film opened in theatres on 5 November, and its second part is planned to follow.