Works such as this put one in a dilemma. For you want so desperately for the country to have a creative animation film on one of the oldest epics of the world. In consequence you are prepared to be pleased, indeed even determined to be pleased, by what you view. And then the actual product itself erodes your determination.

Simply put the quality of animation is very high indeed but the script by Narendra Sharma, an authority of sorts, is an unfortunately mediocre one. It just doesn't match the breadth of vision of the animators, and takes on board every sentimental and melodramatic cliché that has become an accretion on the public perception of the great epic. The grand scale of animation is just not matched by the pedestrian emotions and tired-out platitudes offered as significant ethical lessons. It is like looking at a gorgeous picture with an irritating soundtrack that has been mistakenly tagged onto it.

The storyline is more or less the same, as one would expect, though it is based on the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas not the Ramayana of Valmiki. This makes for a significant shift in how Rama is viewed - as a god not as a great hero - and exaggerates the miraculous element in the story. For instance the bridge across the sea to Lanka is no longer a great engineering feat as it was in Valmiki; it is a floating miracle, held up by faith in the buoyancy that Rama's name written on each rock provides it.

The animation was done with Japanese collaboration and it would seem with quite a bit of Japanese funding. As a result, many historical anachronisms and delightful incongruities creep in. Rama and Laxmana for instance are portrayed as bare-chested samurai warriors, complete with topknot. The swords used are actually the Chinese long knife, with its characteristic sash, not the Indian double-edged straight blade which would have been historically accurate. The fights staged with these swords are also the best ever seen on an Indian screen as the Japanese have a great and ongoing kenjutsu tradition, unlike the Indians who were always mediocre swordsmen at best. The famous bows of the great archers are not the Indian composite bow as would be expected but the six foot samurai bow with its off-centre haft. The characteristic features of manga and animae Japanese cartoon tradition run through this production too, exaggerated eyes that fill up a face, tiny lips and shrill voices. All of which is actually fun, the Ramayana has long been nativised throughout Southeast Asia the most famous example being Indonesia's Ramminkein. This merely follows in that tradition.

One really funny example of cultural stereotyping occurs when Ravana is shown watching a dance performance. The costume is pure Mata Hari, a nineteenth century vision of the lure of the exotic and voluptuous Orient - and the dancing girl has six arms to simultaneously make as many mudras as can be communicated.

Such moments are very rare however, and most of the time you get the exaggerated groans and moans of the Jatra and Nautanki to signify pain and sorrow. Rama barely escapes coming off as a mealy-mouthed prig. Sita is a squeaky damsel in distress. Laxmana is reduced to a nonentity while Hanuman is no longer Hanuman but the great Chinese culture hero - Monkey. He gets a good line in the tradition of all action films where witticisms and wisecracks precede violence. He is going to teach these rakashas a lesson and besides he needs the exercise! Ravana is depicted as a great bad-tempered thundercloud. As his rage gets warmer his extra heads begin to pop out of his shoulders!

The war sequences are really magnificent and only animation could do justice to them, as we do not have the budgets for a "cast of thousands". The island-fortress of Lanka is shown in a brooding Dark Towers style that suggests evil quite palpably. Certain scenes of sylvan beauty capture the myth of pastoral in a hard glittering style. But these are compensations that you are driven to look for, because the story is so weakly executed. The script has also tampered with many of the sequences, primarily how Rama kills Ravana with a chakra instead of by shooting him in the navel as the tradition holds. Indrajit and Laxmana have this aerial joust, which is magnificent to view, but really superfluous to the tale. Hanuman's lifting of the Sanjeevani hill is a sequence that is worthy of the animator's art. About the emotional scenes and the attempts at conveying moral lessons, let us draw over them the veil of charity.

In short the film is an ingenious attempt that falls far short of its attempted mark. However we really have nothing better to put in its place so de facto it will have to do for now. It can give you a few moments of visual pleasure and it may be a convenient introduction for very small children to the epic, but it could have been better. Ram Mohan is India's premier animator and along with his Japanese collaborators could have given us a better product. The price seems a bit steep for something that doesn't run for even two hours.

RAMAYANA
The Legend of Prince Rama
Excel Productions audiovisuals Pvt. Ltd.