Ramayana: Can Anyone Ever Get It “Perfect”?

I watched the trailer of Ramayana yesterday, and honestly, I was impressed.

The CGI, VFX, real shooting locations, production design, and the sheer scale of the film looked remarkable. The casting, too, seems promising. For a moment, I was simply excited to see an Indian epic being presented with the kind of cinematic grandeur we rarely attempt.

Then I started reading the reviews and comments.

Some people are calling this Ramayana “baseless.” Others are saying that it is being made primarily for the Indian diaspora and not for Indians. Many are comparing it to Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan and saying that nothing can ever come close to it.

And to an extent, I understand that sentiment.

Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan is deeply embedded in our collective memory. For an entire generation, those actors became the faces of Shri Ram, Maa Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman. That emotional connection cannot simply be recreated.

But there is another side to this conversation.

If, in 2026, someone gave us the same Ramayan with limited visual effects, simplistic sets and arrows that merely touch each other before exploding into light, we would probably criticise that too. Cinema has evolved. Technology has evolved. Storytelling has evolved. Naturally, our expectations have evolved with them.

And this is where we need to understand something important.

There isn't just one visual version of the Ramayana.

If we strictly followed every physical description from Valmiki's Ramayana, many things that have become familiar to us through popular retellings would look very different.

The Hanuman we have grown up imagining—with a distinctly monkey-like face, extraordinary ability to fly, and the power to carry an entire mountain—is, in many ways, the result of centuries of devotional traditions, regional retellings, art, theatre, television and popular imagination.

The same applies to the depiction of Shri Ram, Maa Sita and many other characters.

Over centuries, the Ramayana has transcended the boundaries of a single text. It has become a living tradition—retold, reinterpreted and visualised differently across generations.

And perhaps that is why no adaptation of the Ramayana can ever be perfect.

Because how do you perfectly portray Shri Ram?

Who has the aura to truly embody Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram?

Who can capture the strength and nobility of Lakshman?

Who possesses the beauty and grace we associate with Maa Sita?

Who can truly represent the devotion, strength and divinity of Hanuman?

Who can embody the might of Sugriva?

There is no actor who can.

There is no filmmaker who can.

There is no technology that can.

These are characters who have become larger than life—not merely because of how they are described, but because of what they mean to millions of people.

At best, cinema can attempt a depiction.

It can give us a visual interpretation of something that exists far beyond the screen.

So before declaring this Ramayana a masterpiece or a disaster, perhaps we should simply wait.

Let the filmmakers tell the story they have envisioned.

Let us see what they have created with today's technology, today's filmmaking language and their own interpretation of this timeless epic.

We can criticise it afterwards.

But for now, I would rather watch it with an open mind.

Because ultimately, this isn't just another movie.

It is the story of Shri Ram—a story that has survived thousands of years, countless retellings and generations of change.

And perhaps no film will ever be able to perfectly capture that.

But that shouldn't stop us from trying.

Jai Shri Ram. 🙏