We’re all watching the internet pass conflicted judgements about the recent Ramayana trailer that was released on Hanuman Jayanti and officially introduced Ranbir Kapoor in his Lord Ram avatar. I’ve made it evident on social media already that I am disappointed by the trailer because nothing in it looks like a promise of a Rs.4000 crore film that employs an Oscar winning VFX team. Even with my bias against Ranbir Kapoor’s casting aside (simply because I feel like he doesn’t suit the role; nothing to do with his beef eating comment), I gave the trailer a fair chance because there was so much potential there. With such a massive budget, the makers could actually create something legendary and break all records of Indian cinema – simply because the plot of the movie is in itself a winner among the Indian audiences.
I’m not really surprised that they seem to have thrown away the opportunity because the trailer looks like a cheap wannabe of a Hollywood science fiction film. The lighting feels more like a gothic horror movie than Ramayana, there is a literal giant in the movie with what looks like blisters on its body (God knows where such a character came from in Ramayana), Ranbir Kapoor is pulling stunts as if he’s still shooting for Bramhastra and there isn’t a single happy frame in the entire trailer. I don’t even want to mention that Ranbir Kapoor looks fa…r away from what any of us would imagine Lord Ram to look like.
I so wonder if the film makers assume that the Indian audience is so low IQ that selling THIS image of Ram through social media praise will promote their movie. By now, film makers and the film fraternity as a whole must know that the audience can decide what a genuinely well-made film is v/s what a forced PR campaign looks like. Anyone with a penchant for films can conclude that the Ramayana trailer does not meet the promised standards of a Rs.4000 crore budget film of such grand scale. And yet, social media handles and news sites are desperately projecting that this is some revolutionary movie to look forward to and its honestly tiresome. The film fraternity either needs to step up its PR game or just lay it to rest when the audience expresses its opinions because at this point, it just feels like the makers are mocking the audience.
I don’t have hopes about Sai Pallavi’s reveal as Sita or Ravi Dubey’s reveal as Lakshman either. Perhaps Yash might be interesting as Ravana but I don’t assume that will save the film. Why the film makers have fumbled so hard with the cast and the screenplay with such a massive budget in hand is beyond me. And how far they’ll go to defend this fumble will be an interesting PR case study. I just hope that they won’t resort to blaming the Indian audience if the movie performs poorly in India because we know they’ll most likely release it overseas and recover the budget by hook or crook. We also know there’ll be a select audience that loves Ranbir and sits on the social media opinion fence that’ll celebrate this movie and call it a success – as it already is. I’m just hoping there’ll be a reasonable segment that won’t be fooled by the projections. After all, we don’t want to be celebrating another Adipurush.
Let me know what you think of the trailer and the cast in the comment section. Let me also know if the forced PR campaign is something only I’m noticing!
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