Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has doubled down on his praise for ‘Ramayana: Rise Of A Legend’ after watching the film for the second time. The director, who identifies as an atheist, clarified that his appreciation comes from the perspective of a film enthusiast and not as a devotee of Lord Ram. In a lengthy post on X, he lauded Nitesh Tiwari‘s directorial for its ambitious scale, visual effects, storytelling and cinematic vision, while taking a dig at those who have criticised the film.Varma began his note by explaining why he believes some reviews have failed to understand the film’s biggest strength. He wrote, “Watched #Ramayana for the 2nd time and incidentally I am an atheist and so this analysis is from a film watcher and not as a ram bhakt. While other reviews grudgingly note its scale and then hedge with “but the soul is missing” or “music could be better ,” etc , what they are missing is that the soul is in the scale and the emotion is in the humongous ambition of all the wonderfully talented people behind the making of this film @NiteshTiwari22 and @NamitMalhotra have achieved what no one in Indian cinema never even dreamt of.. They have taken the devotional Juice from a well known epic and placed it on a canvas that made me as a viewer feel, the greatest Hollywood films as stage plays.”He went on to single out several sequences, including the opening cosmic battle, Ravana’s ten heads materialising, the forest landscapes and the climactic Jatayu sequence. Describing these moments as far more than visual effects, he wrote, “The opening cosmic battle, Ravana’s ten heads materialising not as a gimmick but as a living expression of knowledge and internal conflicts, the forests that feel more creature like themselves than the creatures they host , and standing high above all the breath stopping climactic Jatayu sequence … these are not mere Vfx effects. They are actually galactic events of the future brightness of Indian cinematic cosmos.”He also had a strong message for the Hindi film industry, crediting producer Namit Malhotra for backing a project of such magnitude. Varma wrote, “This is Namit Malhotra’s slap on the faces and a kick in the crotches of Bollywoodians to wake them up from their lazy slumberness to show them what all is possible it there’s a will.”
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Among the performances, Yash‘s portrayal of Ravana received the filmmaker’s highest praise. Varma maintained that the actor had gone beyond playing a conventional antagonist and brought out the character’s intelligence, strength, devotion to Lord Shiva and ambition. He wrote, “@TheNameisYash‘s Ravana is not a performance of the year, but it is of many decades .. I say that because I simply can’t remember anything I ever saw with his kind of a electrifying effect ever since I started watching cinema. He does not play a villain. He plays a man who has earned his power through penance, intelligence, and a refusal to bow .. The backstory the trauma, the devotion to Shiva, the ambition that becomes a prison , brilliantly written by #SridharRaghavan has been enacted with a combination of both a crystal clear clarity along with a monstrous force of reaching far beyond an objective destination so colourfully displayed with magnetic precision when he intrinsically ponders with his ten heads before taking the decision of kidnapping Sita.”He further argued that Yash’s portrayal had made Ravana the gravitational centre of the narrative, adding, “In short there’s no Rama without Ravana.”Varma also came to Ranbir Kapoor‘s defence amid criticism that the actor maintained a similar expression throughout the film. He argued that Ranbir’s restrained portrayal was essential to the character and that Lord Ram’s strength comes from his principles, composure and ability to control his emotions. He described Ranbir’s Ram as the necessary counterweight to the worldly evils depicted in the story, which, according to him, was central to the character’s godly status.Addressing the criticism surrounding the film’s length and storytelling, Varma argued that the runtime was necessary to establish Ravana’s stature and give Ram’s exile the attention it deserved. He praised Nitesh Tiwari for refusing to dilute the moral complexity of the epic or turn it into a conventional masala action entertainer. He also appreciated the film’s ability to appeal to families, youngsters, Gen Z audiences and moviegoers in smaller towns.Varma further maintained that the film could stand alongside major international productions without borrowing their cinematic language. Drawing a comparison with franchises such as ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ and ‘Avatar’, he wrote, “This is the first ever Indian film that can stand above each and every large scale international production with its head held high and with an immense pride. That’s because it does not borrow the language of the Lord of the Rings or Avatar. Instead it takes inspirations to dig into its own rich Indian backyard with the greatest ever stories which have been waiting to be excavated.”He was particularly scathing about negative reviews and the criticism directed at the film’s scale. In one of the strongest lines from his post, Varma wrote, “Reviews might have given 2,3,5 whatever starts but I feel It’s an insult to India and it’s cinema to review this film. The negative reviewers are looking at a mountain and complaining that the path is steep and uneven but that’s because they are too small in comparison to the garangutan architects who built this mountainous Taj Mahal of cinema.“Concluding his note, the filmmaker declared that the film had established a new benchmark for Indian cinema and that future releases would be measured against it. He wrote, “Ramayana: Part 1 is the opening statement of a new standard for Indian cinema and whatever film will be made after November 5 th will now be measured against it , and the only thing which will destroy Ramayana part 1 will be Ramayana part 2 🙏🙏🙏”