“Srirama Rajyam” is worth the wait and worth watching all 150 minutes. Honestly, I was not bored even once despite that there were no fights, no item songs, no comedy tracks, no belly-dancing or bottom-pinching movements. On the contrary, Balakrishna who usually mouths blood-wrenching dialogues and Nayanatara who wears sleeveless sarees gave one of the best performances of their lives – Balayya with his “Avatar” Vishnu-blue colour body and impeccable makeup and costumes that are reminiscent of NTR and Nayanatara with her Satwic portrayal of Sita in elegant skin-protecting dresses is surprising.
The script - originally purportedly written by Sage Valmiki – based on the original “Luva Kusha” was well-fleshed out, articulated and embellished by Late Mullapudi Venkataramana garu. You see him in every line that every character speaks in the film directed superbly by Bapu garu. It is incredible that after so many decades after “Seeta Kalyanam”, Bapu and Ramana retained their affection for Ramayana so well as to carve out a mini-epic that will resonate splendidly with today’s audiences. In interpreting Ramayana in the light of today’s changing themes of polygamy, disharmony and dysfunctional childhoods, live-in marriages and celebratory divorces, children and parents who live on different planets, et al – Mullapudi Ramana gives his subtle take on many aspects for those who listen to the under-currents behind the voices coming from the characters.
The original “Luva Kusha” despite its celestial songs and immortal characterization came in techno color and all of 22 reels with higher Telugu proficiency. This one is 16 reels and full of crisp characterization and wonderful visuals and some ten minutes of outstanding graphics toward the climax. Not just Balakrishna and Nayanatara - almost everybody gets to shine once or often most notably ANR (who played a majestic role as Sage Valmiki), Srikanth (as Lakhsmana), KR Vijaya (as Kausalya) and Roja (as Sita’s mother Bhoodevi). The three kids playing Hanuman, Luv and Kush give us a full feel of what blithe spirits are – they are just adorable. At eighty, when most folks wheel away in their chair or eke their twilight years like a vegetable, Bapu garu has worked so damn hard on a subject that’s dear to him and his dear friend Mullapudi Ramana who passed away before the film got completed. Of course, it requires a gutsy producer like Y Saibaba to collaborate so well in bringing such an ambitious enterprise to bear fruit – and he is the silent hero who has to be appreciated. One movie like this will get generations back to its roots – and Bapu has taken great care in giving a top-quality visual which is crisp, neat, measured not once appearing either regressive in message or vulgar at all (like some of the other directors who attempt mythologicals get tempted for). Music by Maestro Ilayaraja is already a hit but in the movie he used it with calibrated orchestration as BGM that will stand out.
There are minor blemishes in the movie but hardly noticeable in the flow and very few cinematic liberties taken by Bapu and Ramana – but they don’t impoverish our worldview, they enrich the movie. Also, given the thin layer of the original Uttara Ramayana, I expected to see Bapu-Ramana team to delve more into the nuances of Rama Rajyam which people like Mahatma Gandhi and others talked about – give us a broader sweep of how a society used to live under Rama Rajya – rather than concentrating on the melancholy and twist of fate separating Rama and Sita yet again. That would have set “Srirama Rajyam” further apart from “Luva Kusha” as the final epic instead of mostly showing a brooding Rama. Sita’s character always shows greater resilience and courage than Rama – and that comes through ably through Nayantara.
Ramayana as a theme always finds takers for its undercurrents of love, family values and devotion. I am always intrigued that right from Valmiki to Kamba to writers like RK Narayan, C Rajagopalachari, Ashok Banker – success always crowns those who stick to the basic knitting. If you stray from the plot like Mani Ratnam or take liberties under the veil of artistic freedom, you will get dumped not for irrelevance but for irreverence. Recently, Delhi University has scrapped AK Ramanujam’s essay on 300 versions of Ramayana because the epic is burned so deeply inside our national consciousness that reading the original version gives more benefits than when it is not endured. To that extent, “SriRama Rajyam” is recommended highly. We are taking out our 83 year old grandmother as well as kids who see Telugu DVDs with English subtitles. And let me say this unabashadely, nobody makes Ramayana epics better than Bapu-Ramana or for that matter Telugu folks.
