India's costliest film retells a beloved Hindu epic - but divides critics

India’s most expensive movie retells a cherished Hindu epic — but has split critics

India’s priciest film, an opulent two-part retelling of the Hindu epic Ramayana with a reported budget of $500m, has debuted in cinemas around the world, generating huge anticipation and divided reviews.

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana: Rise of a Legend is the first of two planned films, an expansive production that combines some of India’s biggest stars, Hollywood visual-effects know-how and two Oscar-winning composers in an effort to bring one of the nation’s most revered stories to a global audience.

One of Hinduism’s core epics, the Ramayana has crossed centuries and continents, appearing in poetry, temple sculpture, shadow puppetry, folk theatre and tales handed down through generations. It has survived kingdoms and empires, inspired religious devotion and political movements, and repeatedly found fresh life on television and in film.

Tiwari’s interpretation revisits the well-known tale of love, duty, exile and war, unfolding in a realm of gods and demons, celestial weapons and powerful kingdoms.

Ranbir Kapoor stars as Lord Ram, the righteous prince of Ayodhya. Exiled from his kingdom for 14 years, he goes into the forest with his wife Sita, played by Sai Pallavi, who is abducted by Ravana, the ten-headed ruler of Lanka.

Ravana, portrayed by Yash, one of southern India’s biggest stars, is a formidable warrior whose pride drives him toward an epic confrontation with Ram, which will be shown in part 2, due next year.

The score is a partnership between AR Rahman, the Oscar-winning Indian composer of Slumdog Millionaire, and Hans Zimmer, whose music for Gladiator, The Dark Knight and Dune has helped shape the sound of modern Hollywood.

The film opened just days before Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights that marks Ram’s return to Ayodhya after his exile.

But the reaction so far has been mixed.

Its immense scale, he wrote, “remains, for the most part, the only thing that stands out”, while the acting is “wildly inconsistent”.

The film’s release comes days ahead of Diwali, which celebrates Ram’s return to Ayodhya and the “victory of good over evil”

Rishabh Suri of the Hindustan Times was more positive, giving it four stars.

“I am happy to report, all that money shows on screen,” he wrote, praising the performances and visual effects, though he said the first half dragged and the music was underwhelming.

There was “enough sorcery and thrills and adventure” to carry the spectacle, she wrote, and the filmmakers had succeeded in telling a sprawling story without being overwhelmed by it.

Outside India, the film also prompted sharply different responses.

Writing in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw described it as a “thoroughly engaging, rousing and spectacular Indian epic melodrama”. He saw traces of Shakespeare in the royal intrigue that sends Rama into exile, and of Homer in his mission to rescue Sita. Its vast landscapes and fantastical visuals reminded him of The Lord of the Rings and The Lion King.

Others were far less impressed. Siddhant Adlakha of IGN rated the film four out of 10, calling its action “clunky” and its computer-generated imagery an “eye-sore”.

Sita’s abduction by Ravana triggers an epic battle

But he felt the film’s huge story might have worked better as a Game of Thrones-style series.

The use of AI to alter actors’ lip movements for the English-language version also attracted criticism. While Tiwari said it was meant to make the film more accessible to international audiences, Adlakha compared the effect to “exaggerated mouth movements superimposed on still images for comedy sketches”.

In India, the film has drawn comparisons with earlier adaptations, especially Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, which gripped the country nearly four decades ago with simple sets and special effects that now appear quaint.

When the series first aired in 1987, Sunday mornings across India took on an almost devotional stillness.

Streets emptied, shops pulled down their shutters and neighbours gathered around television sets. Some viewers bathed, lit incense and garlanded their screens before the broadcast, preparing for the programme much as they might for worship.

Arvind Rajagopal, a media scholar at New York University, told the BBC in 2019 that trains and buses would stop and passengers would get off to watch the show on roadside TVs.

Shown on the state-run Doordarshan network, some of the most popular episodes of the 78-part series were estimated to have drawn 80-100 million viewers, astonishing figures at a time when owning a television was a luxury in India.

The actors also became objects of reverence. Arun Govil, who played Ram, has said people wept at the sight of him and touched his feet. Now, in a casting choice rich with nostalgia, Govil appears in Tiwari’s film as Dasharatha, Ram’s father.

Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan remains the most popular adaptation of the Hindu epic till date

Other versions have found their own ways to reinterpret the epic. The 1992 Indo-Japanese animated film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama brought the story to life in richly detailed hand-drawn animation.

Tiwari’s Ramayana arrives with technological resources its predecessors could scarcely have imagined — but also with the expectations of generations who have grown up with the story and its characters.

It also comes at a politically charged time in India, where Ram has become a potent symbol of Hindu identity

- over the past decade-and-a-half, even popular analyses or retellings of the epic have sparked controversy.

, another big-budget retelling of Ramayana, triggered backlash on multiple fronts.

Hindu groups demanded a ban, accusing it of disrespecting religious figures, while some critics questioned its portrayal of Ravana, saying it borrowed from Mughal imagery and reinforced stereotypes about Muslims. The film was also criticised for its dialogue and visual effects.

For the actors playing these figures in the new film, that responsibility was keenly felt.

“I was filled with fear,” Kapoor told the BBC Asian Network’s Haroon Rashid. “I knew that maybe I’m too old for this. I won’t be able to do justice to it.”

He called the role “an opportunity of a lifetime”, but said portraying a figure worshipped by millions left little of the creative freedom he had enjoyed in other films.

Sai Pallavi, who plays Sita, said the experience was as spiritual as it was artistic. Raised in a religious household, she said she approached the role not only as a performance, but as a chance for personal growth.

The film’s popular reception will become clearer soon as audiences head to cinemas.

But whatever the final judgment, it marks a major cultural moment for India, bringing a story cherished for generations to the big screen on an unprecedented scale.