Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has heaped praise on Ramayana: Part 1, after watching the film for the second time. Varma shared a detailed review on X on Wednesday, appreciating its grand scale, visual effects, performances and the ambition behind its making.
He also clarified that he reviewed it as a film enthusiast, not as a devotee of Lord Ram, since he is an atheist.
RGV Takes A Dig At Bollywood
Varma said director Nitesh Tiwari and producer Namit Malhotra had brought the epic to life on a scale never seen before in Indian cinema. He added that the film's visuals made even major Hollywood productions look like "stage plays".
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Taking a sharp dig at Bollywood, 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."
Hails Visuals And Scale
He praised several key sequences, including the opening cosmic battle, Ravana's ten-headed appearance, the detailed forest scenes and the Jatayu climax. Varma said these moments went beyond impressive visuals and showed how far Indian cinema could go.
Varma noted that several reviews praised the film's scale but questioned its emotional depth and music. However, he disagreed by saying, "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."
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Praise Casts, Crew And Music
Varma was particularly impressed with Yash's portrayal of Ravana, describing it as a performance that would be remembered for decades. He praised the actor for showing the character's strength, devotion to Shiva and ambition.
He also credited writer Sridhar Raghavan, especially for Ravana's backstory and inner conflicts. Referring to the character's importance, Varma wrote, "There's no Rama without Ravana."
Varma also defended Ranbir Kapoor against criticism that his portrayal of Ram lacked emotional expressions. He argued that Ram's character is defined by what he holds back rather than what he displays. Praising Ranbir's performance, he pointed to the character's quiet acceptance of exile and controlled actions in the forest.
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. 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 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 @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 .. Every review that calls him the show stealer is correct, but what they missed is the larger picture that his portrayal made Ravana look like the gravitational centre of Rama In short there's no Rama without Ravana Ranbir Kapoor's Ram is the necessary counterweight against the worldly evils which anyway was the whole point of his godly status Critics who wanted constant emoting from Ranbir saying he's got same expression throughout are flmissing the point that Ram is defined by what he withholds and not by what he expresses His quiet acceptance of the exile, his controlled violence in the forest sequences, his stillness that so wonderfully contained an absolute certainty is the hardest thing to play for an actor because when he finally acts , it's not his arrows alone which find their mark , but more than that its his principles which pierce What I loved about @HansZimmer and @arrahman is that they did not compete with the imagery but they rather flowed with it. The score does not try to reinvent devotion. It just amplifies the existing mass of the specific emotion and more importantly pin points the choices of its characters .. Songs that feel “functional” to some critics are doing the correct job because they do not interrupt the momentum of a three hour epic that is slowly building towards a confrontation The Tandav energy and the aerial combat cues strike hard with a never before seen or experienced force. In a film this large, restraint in the music is not a lay back , but It is a volatile high energy concoction of discipline and strategy In my not so humble opinion what the negative reviews state as problems are actually the film's real strengths. The so called length is very necessary because one cannot establish Ravana's scale and then compress Ram's exile into just a highlight reel without losing the predicament of an impending inevitability . I love Tiwari because he refuses to cheapen the moral stakes and turn the story into a masala action drama and the result of that conviction of his is a film that can be watched by families , youngsters , Gen Z etc etc and still hit the front benchers of the small and tiny towns . 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 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 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 🙏🙏🙏
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) November 11, 2026
Varma also praised Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman for music that complemented the visuals and enhanced the film's emotions, particularly in the Tandav and aerial battle sequences.
Varma defended the film's runtime as necessary for the story and praised Tiwari for avoiding a conventional masala treatment.
Varma said Ramayana: Part 1 matches major international films while staying rooted in Indian storytelling, calling it “the opening statement of a new standard for Indian cinema.” He ended with a prediction that the only film capable of surpassing the first part would be Ramayana: Part 2.
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