While the recent debacle of the Saif Ali Khan-Prabhas led feature Adipurush earned brickbats for its portrayals, it also opened doors of nostalgia for Indian viewers. Many on social media recall being mesmerised by an animated feature dating back to 1993 as the perfect example of a well made adaptation of one of India’s greatest epics.

The film — Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama AKA Prince of Light — began in the late 1980s when Japanese filmmaker Yugo Sako arrived in India to research the epic. Over the next decade, the production involved Koichi Sasaki and the late Ram Mohan — who was one of the pioneers of Indian animation — guided over 450 animators across India and Japan on the feature. It was not until its re-release on television in the early 2000s that it captured popular imagination.