Many centuries ago the terrible demon king Ravana rules the island of Lanka (later Sri Lanka). His flying minions wage unholy war upon the Hindu seers and sages known as Rishis. Appealing for help from the Gods, the Rishis discover their salvation lies with Rama (voiced by Nikhil Kapoor), blue-skinned earthly incarnation of Lord Vishnu and son of benevolent King Dasharatha (Bulbul Mukherjee). Aided by his loyal brother Lakshmana (Mishal Varma), Rama slays the evil demoness Tataka and restores the forests she defiled to their natural beauty. Shortly thereafter Rama wins the fair hand of Princess Sita (Rael Padamsee), daughter of King Janaka, by managing to lift and string the supernaturally heavy bow of the god Shiva. However the lovers fall victim to a scheme hatched by embittered old nurse Manthara (Pearl Padamsee). She poisons the mind of Dasharatha's third wife Kaikeyi (Madhulika Varma) who coerces the king to exile Rama and Sita to the forest for fourteen years. Here Sita's beauty draws the attention of Ravana. Through trickery he lures Rama away long enough to bring Sita to his impenetrable stronghold on Lanka. Rama and Lakshmana enlist their own magical aid in the form of a vast monkey army for an assault on Ravana's island fortress.
Hindu mythology inspired a fair few anime, more often less-than-faithful fare from RG Veda (1991) to Kama Sutra (1994). However this lavish adaptation of the Sanskrit epic poem Ramayana was more respectful to the text than most not least because its production was closely scrutinized by Hindu religious authorities. Japanese producer-director Yugo Sako hatched the idea for an animated epic while working on a documentary about the so-called Ramayana Relics back in 1983. He then formed a partnership with Indian animator Ram Mohan who trained at the Walt Disney studio and produced several animated shorts and sequences for among others Satyajit Ray's historical drama The Chess Players (1977). Working from a screenplay by Krishna Shah the pair toiled for years through numerous delays and set-backs but eventually produced a literate, lyrical and lively albeit necessarily condensed version of a very dense, complex and unwieldy mythological epic. For anime fans unfamiliar with the original tale the fantastical facets of Hindu myth were doubtless no more outlandish than any Japanese sci-fi saga.
Unfortunately this Japanese-Indian co-production was conceived for an audience that simply was not there. Numerous cheap Hindi-made CGI direct-to-video animations suggest things might have changed but at the time there was no interest in India and the film barely registered with the Hindi film fan community overseas. Which is a shame. On a technical level the skilled Japanese animators capture the scope and pageantry of the source material with an eye-catching attention to detail and imaginative flair. The monster battles and sword and sorcery set-pieces exceed most live-action attempts to bring this sprawling story to the screen. Furthermore the film benefits from an authentic Indian voice cast that perform in both the Hindi and original English versions and invest their roles with suitable gravitas. Interestingly a later American dub employed the services of James Earl Jones as narrator and none other than future Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston as the voice of Rama! For the record Cranston also voiced the lead hero in Shoji Kawamori's superb sci-fi sequel Macross Plus (1995).
This being a religious epic the tone closer to Cecil B. DeMille than, say, Ray Harryhausen: solemn, reverent and truth be told a trifle stifling. Rama is a thoroughly decent, earnest, uncomplicated hero: a brave warrior, dutiful son, devoted husband and all-round great guy. Which on the one hand is fair enough. Few Judeo-Christian religious epics feature complex heroes. However, taken as a fantasy adventure the plot has plenty of stirring battles but little dramatic weight. The hand-wringing melodrama and heavy moralizing reflect stock interpretations of the text. A Hindi audience would expect nothing less but non-devotees may find the plot wearying. Much of the midsection centres on the engaging adventures of super-simian Hanuman voiced, interestingly, by Noël Godin the Belgian actor, writer and critic who later gained notoriety for throwing a custard pie in the face of Microsoft CEO Bill Gates! Despite the lavish two-hour running time the film is fast-paced and glosses over some parts of the text relying on a narrator to fill in the blanks. The entire second half concentrates on one big sprawling battle where Ravana throws one super-villain after another at Rama's monkey army. This features more dead monkeys than the entire Planet of the Apes saga but away from the battlefield the film successfully emphasizes chivalry between warriors on both sides and moments when warrior-poet Rama waxes lyrical about the futility of war. Music by Vhanraj Bhatia (Alan Howarth contributed new tracks to the American version). Yes, in tried and true Bollywood fashion there are musical numbers.
