Let's be honest: Bollywood has not been having the best time lately. Films aren't performing as well as they used to; stories aren't as fresh, and people are more invested in curling up under their blanket watching Panchayat reruns. But every now and then, something incredible comes out, reminding us that Indians are total film-paglus, and it's just a matter of that one film to get us back into the theatre.
Today, a tiny glimpse of director Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana was released, and my faith in storytelling is back in full form.
The Ramayana has seen several renditions in the past decades—including some truly terrible ones (*cough* Adipurush *cough*). But this one looks like it's been made with blood, sweat, tears, and a whole lot of zeal.
JUST LOOK AT THIS.
The 3-minute work of art is an 'introduction' to the epic, which rewinds all the way to the three worlds and three Gods that were omnipresent: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, and provides context to 'the war to end all wars'—the one between Rama and Ravana.
This film's star cast is incredible: Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, South Indian stars Yash and Sai Pallavi as Ravana and Sita, Ravi Dubey as Laxman, and Sunny Deol as Hanuman. Talk about gravitas.
But the best part: its music has been produced by two of the best minds in the industry: Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman.
Music producer and composer Hans Zimmer is known for his phenomenal background scores in films like Interstellar, Dune, Inception, and The Lion King. He was listed in The Daily Telegraph's list of 100 Living Geniuses. A.R. Rahman is the legend we've all known and loved forever.
Further, the mind-blowing VFX are attributed to DNEG, an 8-time Academy Award winning studio. Though we got a mere 3-second glimpse of the film, it was more than enough to get my attention.
Indian mythology is a treasure trove—and there are tons of storytellers to bring them to life. And from a glimpse of this, Nitesh Tiwari might just be the one to do it.
You can watch the trailer here. Wear headphones. You're welcome.
