Ramayana The Epic
U; ANIMATION
Dir: Chetan Desai
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Juhi Chawla, Mukesh Rishi
**



What's it about: The tale is an oft-told one. If you haven't heard of it, you have probably lived under a rock (and happily so). Rama's wife Sita gets kidnapped by demon king Raavan. He crosses hill and dale and several miles and even an ocean to get her back and is assisted by his brother and an army of shapeshifting monkeys among other assorted animals. It's India's definitive good triumphs over evil epic.

What's hot and what's not: Perfect voice casting as far as Mukesh Rishi (as Hanuman) and Ashutosh Rana (as Raavan) are concerned. The film uses 3-D rendering and succeeds for the most part in giving you a novel experience as far as watching Indian animation flicks goes.

Lighting and compositing is competent. The concept artists have worked really hard to create their version of the architecture of the time while the matte painters and background modellers have breathed life into them. The work done by the cloth, hair and fur simulation team is above par.
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The VFX is noteworthy going by what has been dished out this year by Indian animation studios. Watch out in particular for the sea god scene and the Bali-Sugriva battle scene where Rama helps Sugriva win. Also marvel at Raavan's aerial vehicle and the effort taken to create Jatayu and the golden deer. However, the film, for all its scale, seems half-hearted and in a tearing hurry.

While the creature character modelling is near-perfect by Indian standards, it seems that human characters like Rama and Sita were singled out for exclusion from excellence. Moreover, Manoj Bajpayee's voice doesn't do Rama justice at all. Juhi Chawla as Sita's voice seems a clear miscast. For most of the film, Bajpayee is monotonous. His dialogue delivery is lacklustre.