Nitesh Tiwari's "Ramayana: Rise of a Legend" adapts India's national epic with massive production scale. The three-hour film covers half of the 1,500-page source material, spanning decades of war, romance, and interactions with the gods. It opens with Ravana, played by Bollywood newcomer Yash, an evil king granted near-immunity by Brahma. To counter him, the god Vishnu incarnates as Rama, portrayed by Ranbir Kapoor. Rama accepts a 14-year exile in the wilderness accompanied by his wife Sita (Sal Pallavi) and brother Lakshmana (Ravi Dubey).
The film features dense storytelling across multiple genres: wars, musical numbers, arena contests, talking eagles, weddings, and shape-shifting sequences. Hans Zimmer marks his first collaboration with an Indian film, scoring alongside A.R. Rahman. The reviewer notes that the production achieves its goal of dramatizing the epic with high production value but sacrifices specificity in the process. The film packs so many climactic moments into its runtime that quieter character beats become sparse, reducing emotional investment in individual turning points. The reviewer writes, "When every scene feels like a climax, you never get a chance to understand why each one matters."
Sony Pictures releases "Ramayana: Rise of a Legend" in U.S. theaters on November 5.