Rajiv Malhotra

If you keep looking for dirt you find it everywhere. To get a reality check, read the tweets of non indians. Do they see a marxist struggle? Did any single one mention it? No? Then it is your own bias and phobia

Audiences say #Ramayana: Rise of a Legend is Verified Hot at 94% on the Popcornmeter! rottentomatoes.com/m/ramayan…

Half of the people commenting are mad at Rajiv because he didn't take a stand against the movie. Rajiv is probably one of the first persons who took it head on against the breaking India forces when most of these guys didn't realise something like that exists. Infact I bet many of these actually read the books of Rajiv to behave the way the are behaving today. One can safely say they didn't understand what Rajiv was saying in his book. I mean they focused more on the enemy Rajiv was pointing to in the book but not the other part where he suggested how to counter, what is the bigger goal and broader Hindu philosophy.

A European colleague of mine watched #RamayanaMovie with his wife and kids last night in Amsterdam. He told me that both he and his wife were deeply moved by our culture, emotions, family values, traditions, and a story they had never experienced before. What touched me most was hearing him say that their next vacation will be to different parts of India, to visit temples, experience our culture firsthand, and learn more about #Hinduism. Thank you @malhotra_namit, @TheNameIsYash, and the entire #Ramayana team for bringing our epic to the world with such scale and emotion. Moments like this make me incredibly proud of our heritage, our history, and the timeless stories of #Bharat. 🇮🇳🕉️

Magnum opus. Spectacular. Epic. Brilliant. Ramayana is all of that and so much more. This is cinema at its very best. Absolutely loved it! Bravo, @malhotra_namit @niteshtiwari22, Ranbir Kapoor, @Sai_Pallavi92 and @raviedubey. And @TheNameIsYash, you absolutely rock as Ravana. What a powerful portrayal! I have a feeling it will be etched in the history of Indian cinema. A special mention to @AnupamPKher for his brilliant voice as Jatayu. It sets the tone beautifully and gives Jatayu that extraordinary presence of a guardian of the epic. And to the entire brilliant team behind VFX, sound, camera, sets, action etc for this magnificent vision and execution, congratulations! Salute, Team Ramayana.

Ramayana today I did not go to judge it as a film. I went with an open mind and an open heart, to experience Ram. And truly, it touched me. This is not just cinema, this is darshan. The dignity of Ram, the pain of exile, the devotion of Jatayu — it all felt real The 3D was not just an effect, it was an experience. It felt like I was not watching Ramayana, I was living inside it The cinematography was divine. Every frame looked like a painting — the light in the forest, the dust in the air, the eyes of Ram, the flight of Jatayu. So pure, so graceful, so full of reverence. No loudness, no show-off. Just beauty that touches the soul Every individual will criticise or appreciate according to their own perspective. That is natural But this film is made even for those who are not yet in devotion, who come only to enjoy the cinema and its 3D effect — at least they will receive some essence of Ram. And that itself is a blessing. If we watch with ego, we will find faults. If we watch with bhakti, we will find Ram For me, Ramayana is not a story to be debated. It is a truth to be felt. Jai Shri Ram Visually, the CGI is world-class. The climax with Jatayu vs Ravana is one of the best VFX scenes I have ever seen in world cinema

What a great movie week. First my ass is blown away by a giant lizard who can spit blue nuclear-laser bombs. Then, tonight, a piece of Hindu mythology makes 3 hours fly by like the Diwali fireworks shooting past my window. 1. Like LOTR, Ramayana embodies the word Epic. It's a glorious culmination of all those movies where you get breath-taking aerial shots (of, say, millions of soldiers about to kick ass) and you feel like watching some huge amazing thing happen at a super-scale. It's just grand as balls. 2. I'm betting Director Nitesh Tiwari would be frickin' insulted if any airline ever included this into its in-flight entertainment. No, this movie is 100% NOT for watching inside a flying plastic tube whilst chewing on chicken pasta or a cheap fruit-salad cup. This movie, not unlike Godzilla, demands that audiences sit down in front of the biggest theater their city has to offer, turn off their goddamn phones, STFU, and bask in all its glory. 3. And glory is what it serves up. The action is unreal and grabs you from the get-go. In fact about 80% of the first 30 minutes is swords clashing and bodies flying. Whilst I suspect I've seen better CGI, no one will be complaining too much. I also swear I've not seen a flying battle elephant until this movie (Jumbo obviously doesn't count). 4. Even the non-action scenes are shot like it's meant to be nominated for Best Visuals. A straight-forward Hello or Farewell sequence can be stretched 10-minutes replete with orchestral accompaniment (and this is probably my only quibble i.e. some portions took unnecessarily long and felt like Tiwari taking the self-indulgent piss). 5. The actors. As far as I'm concerned, a young Sly Stallone was Ram, Gerald Butler was Ravana, Eric Bana was Lakshman and I don't know who the actresses are but they were smokin' 🔥. 6. It helped that I'm glib about Hindu mythology so I really have no idea what's about to happen. 7. Did I prefer this movie or Ne Zha 2? If you put a Glock to my head I"ll say NZ (its visual audacity remain unmatched) but I can't deny I'm salivating for Ramayana Part 2. 8. Ram and his bow brought back Odyssey vibes.

I watched the Lord of the Rings movies before I ever picked up the books. The movies blew me away so much that I ended up buying the entire series. After reading, I realized how much the movies left out, altered and what nuance was missed. If I never watched those movies, I never would have read JRR Tolkien. Which brings me to the release of the Ramayana movie. There is a certain irony within our Hindu community. We criticize those "Hindu In Name Only" types for not preserving their traditions, while doing very little to meet them where they are. We spend so much time preaching to the choir, reaching people who are already invested in their Hindu identity, that we often overlook those who aren't. I was guilty of this until I started teaching teenagers and young adults. You then realize the uphill battle you face in capturing mind share. The upcoming Ramayana movie illustrates this perfectly. Regardless of its artistic merits, or whatever criticism you might have of its portrayal, this film has the potential to introduce Sri Ram's story to an audience that might never attend a mandir, listen to a lecture, or watch Hindu educational content. This movie might spark curiosity or inspire some to go back to the original sources. As a community, we cannot complain that people are disconnected from their traditions while dismissing the very things that might inspire them to reconnect. I have my tickets and will be going to see it next week. My kids know the story of the Ramayana, have enacted it on their own and are eager to see its portrayal. That level of excitement alone is worth the price of the tickets. Afterwards we will critique as a family, discuss where the movie went wrong and what can be improved. But lets not miss the forest for the trees. Perhaps the greatest threat to preserving Hindu traditions isn't simply how they're portrayed, but whether the next generation cares enough to preserve them in the first place.

Watched #RamayanaMovie - the #Kannada version. Detailed Review of the movie. -- OVERALL -- -- Heart is in the right place, details in the wrong place. Despite several shortcomings movie is a net positive. An element of Shraddhaa permeates through the movie and makes you feel it all times. -- The strength is not in the brilliance of individual elements but the coming together all diverse elements. -- Movie makes it clear that it is not entirely based on Valmeeki, draws inspirations from other standard versions, and is a reimagination. There is no scope for expecting fidelity to Valmeeki. There are issues here we will come to that later. -- VFX is the main character of the movie. Well, all characters are VFX. Human beings are a mere property. -- CHARACTER ETCHING -- -- All characters are not well etched. The negative ones stand out. The positive ones dont. It's the story itself that elevates those positive ones not the cinematic imagination. This shortcoming is on Nitesh Tiwari. This is a vision failure. -- My personal opinion is that BWood has lost its ability to imagine traditional Indian positive characters through years of urbanization, secularization, and westernization. This needs some deep immersion into Indian literature - Kavya, Purana, Adhunika all inclusive. It has to learn from regional Indian cinema. -- Sita's character is a least well etched whereas Ravana is the most well etched. Kaikasi is surprisingly well etched. Maricha, Manthara, Kaikeyi, Shoorphanakha all standout. Wonder why Malyavan, Sumali, Mali are left out having gone into the Rakshasa past of Ravana. -- One won't even remember Kausalya. Unnecessary time waste around Vidyujjihva. A slight tinge of playfulness has been thrust onto Lakshmana's role which does not add much value. -- ACTING -- -- Acting overall is very average to above average. There is no bad performance neither is there any excellence. But certainly, leaves one expecting more. No performance absolutely stands out. -- Best Actor award goes to Jatayu. The imagination, VFX, voice everything is exceptional. Yash shines as Ravana - as is well known now. Knowing the past masters of the Rakshasa craft I still feel Yash has fallen short, but it is still outstanding. -- Shobhana as Kaikasi comes next best. Kaikasi is the surprise package of the movie. They chose the best person to essay it. Even when she appears on the screen without a word to speak, she steals the show. Seasoned actress. -- Only Shobhana and Yash live the enormity of their respective roles. Ravi Dubey as Lakshmana does full justice to the role that is given to him. Gorakhpur will proud of another illustrious son. -- Ranbir Kapoor has tried his best. The effort shows (which it should not have). The movie adds a new shade into his role where keeps a strong intrigue about why all this is happening to him. That makes the character interesting. Interestingly, his performance as Parashurama is better than his as Rama. -- Ranbir needed some more insight into Indian life and epics to have essayed this role with more depth. Arun Govil, as Rama, lived that enormity amazingly in the past. He does it Dasharatha again. Yet, I must say I had not expected even this much from Ranbir Kapoor. In the last few minutes, Ranbir Kapoor shows signs of wearing the enormity. -- Sai Pallavi as Sita is very underwhelming bordering on disappointing but that's the consequence of a very bad character etching. For all the talk of agency her character has the least of it in the movie. Lost opportunity. The Director has put out his confusion for full public view. Injustice for a good actress. -- Creative Liberty -- -- The movie is creative liberty galore. I am all for it. But they must serve something valuable/significant. But none of those Liberties standout. Wasted liberties. Except 1-2 they don't add anything significant. Will deal with them in a separate post. -- Taken in isolation some of them were potentially dangerous. But they get well positioned and woven in the overall composition and lose their otherwise damage potential. Only a discerning eye can even recognize. Most people won't. -- One of them certainly causes a damage we will see if that will get compensated in Part-2. -- The whole creative liberty thing is intriguing. What is their trouble to stick to one text and show it in its full perspective I have failed to understand. What is the difficulty in sticking to Valmeeki? Sita's agency is far better depicted through Valmeeki than any other ill-thought-through reimagination as the one in this movie. -- MOMENTS IN THE MOVIE -- -- All Moments in the movie belong to the wonderful deployment of VFX. This is not a small achievement. This is a modern technology put to a creative use to represent civilizational sensibilities. We already a round of success in Yugo Sako's Ramayana. Of course, characterisation too was better in the latter. -- Representation and Depiction of all surrounding/ecosystem/environment (City, Palace, Living Spaces, Wall Art, Forest, River, Sea, Mountain) everything adds value to the context, story, narrative and civilizational ethos. It does not fail a single moment. -- Wonderful reimagination of Pushpaka Vimaana. Even in its mechanization its mystic wonder is not lost. Extraordinarily well-done Fights. Depiction of Dandakaranya worth a special mention. -- Two scenes stood out for me. A) Rama immersing Dasharatha's ashes in the river B) Devendra going deep into the Ksheera-Sagara to meet Mahavishnu. -- There is an element of Shraddha/Bhakti within the environment itself which you feel so strongly that you end up almost missing several deviations/mistakes etc., What you miss in characters you end up forgetting because you almost didnt notice - thanks to the way the VFX brings the Ramayana world to you. Will come to controversy-elements tomorrow.

I agree. Ramayana 2026 version should be watched as a movie, not necessarily as a historical documentary. It's basically soft power that has the ability to create a long-term impact.