Is The Ramayana Movie Criticism Justified? Decoding The Debate Over Its VFX, Casting & Vicious Social Media Chatter

The much-awaited Rama teaser of Ramayana, featuring Ranbir Kapoor, was released recently, and the internet has exploded—primarily with criticism—over the casting of Ranbir, VFX, comparisons to previous depictions of Ramayana; basically, everything is up for discussion.

The teaser introduces Ranbir as Lord Rama, giving glimpses of his life in Ayodhya, going on vanvas with Lakshmana and Sita, skirmishes with demons, war scenes, Yash making an appearance as Ravana, along with the grandiose Pushpak Viman.

One reason for the backlash, which hasn’t been highlighted much, could possibly be that the title slate teaser, which had come out last year, was exceptional. I was part of that launch, which took place at a multiplex, and I remember being absolutely blown away by the result. But what is the overall consensus?

Casting of Ranbir as Lord Ram

This is one of the primary topics for debate. On one side are a huge section of Prabhas fans, who are saying that Ranbir is nothing compared to Prabhas in his depiction of Lord Ram in Adipurush. However, this seems to strictly be their belief, not shared by the rest. Then there is the morality angle, dating back to the time in 2011 when Ranbir, during a food-related TV interview, had admitted how much he liked beef. How can someone playing a divine figure say that, says one section. Even though Ranbir had, some time ago, also said that as he was cast, he stopped eating non-vegetarian food. But then the pseudo-detective’s pit that is X (formerly Twitter) has tweets showing snippets of the Netflix documentary, Dining with the Kapoors, where the entire khandaan, including Ranbir, are seated at a table where generous portions of fish curry, mutton, and paya are just some of the items which have been served. The point, however, is that should this be part of the debate? The reason being that absolutely no actor would, in reality, be pure enough to be playing someone like Lord Ram. For the record, Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in the TV series Ramayana, was a smoker. He has admitted in various interviews that during the shoot, a fan noticed him smoking in a corner and scolded him. Arun, who was hiding behind a curtain, was caught unawares and realised the importance of the role he was playing. He quit smoking.

Ramayana’s producer, Namit Malhotra, is the CEO of DNEG, the company responsible for the special effects of the film. And DNEG isn’t just any other company. The British-founded visual effects company, a subsidiary of the Indian media company Prime Focus Limited, has won Academy Awards for their work on films such as Inception, Interstellar, Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049, First Man, Tenet, Dune: Part One, and Dune: Part Two. So obviously, the expectations from the VFX were stratospherically high. But that has become one of the most criticised aspects of the teaser, with many arguing the visual effects look like a video game, similar to the criticism which had drowned Adipurush. Add to that the claim of the film being made on a budget of ₹4,000 crore.

Hrithik’s lengthy post

Amid all the VFX bashing, Hrithik Roshan shared a detailed note on Instagram around VFX in cinema. “Yes, bad VFX exists. It’s sometimes so bad it’s painful to watch. Especially for me… and especially when it’s a film I’m part of,” he wrote. He then shared a childhood memory about watching Back to the Future at the age of 11. “I became obsessed. I would sit with my dad’s VHS player studying the frames—pause-play, pause-play—until I broke the player. I ordered a book, Industrial Light and Magic: The Art of Special Effects, from Reader’s Digest with my pocket money…and waited months for it to arrive at the Juhu post office. Happiest day of my life. I can still smell the book as I unwrapped it. Many others followed.”

“Today, some special humans among us, like the makers of films like Kalki, Baahubali, Ramayana (also my dad for Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish, of course), are my heroes. They have the guts and vision to do what’s never been done, all for the love of cinema, so that we, the audience, get to experience something never watched before. From my point of view, they risked all that money and years and years of effort just so another 11-year-old kid could feel what I felt.”

“Bad VFX is if the movie promises, say, ‘photorealism’ but is unable to inhabit it fully. Even a small lapse in physics/gravity can then destroy the entire illusion. Or the promise is of storybook style but they fail in making it beautiful enough or artistic enough or divine enough, and so fail to engage. But to say that the storybook style is not looking photorealistic isn’t fair. Because it’s not meant to be.”

He ended by saying the discussions around films need to be more thoughtful. “AND you can’t criticise the maker just because he has chosen one style while you prefer another style. That’s not fair. So sometimes when you say ‘bad VFX,’ maybe it’s just a style you didn’t expect. So next time don’t just ask, ‘Is it real?’ First ask, ‘Is it right for the story?’ ‘Is it making me feel what the maker intended?’ Debate it. But debate it with awareness.”

US vs India

On Thursday, Namit joined director Nitesh Tiwari in Mumbai to present the teaser to Indian audiences, offering the first official glimpse of Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama. The actor, however, was not present at the Mumbai unveiling, which coincided with Hanuman Jayanti. The teaser had earlier been launched in Los Angeles and New York City, where Ranbir attended promotional events along with the film’s director and producer. The decision to premiere the footage abroad prompted some social media users to question why the first reveal was not held in India.

Responding to the criticism, Namit asked people to view the move from a broader perspective. He told India Today, “Don’t divide. This is not the time to be divisive. The Indians in America are thanking and appreciating us for having an event in the US; you need to understand the emotion of the Indian people over there.”

Explaining the intention behind the international launch, Namit stated that the film is aimed at audiences across the globe.

He said, “There are Indians all over the world. We should not be divisive; that’s where we go wrong on Ramayana. There’s no division; it’s one world, one Ramayana, and one Rama. The idea is to show it to the entire world. How do we bring awareness? Every Indian knows about Ramayana.”

According to him, the goal is to ensure “that everybody should know about Ramayana.” He added that the team is not focusing on ticket sales yet but on sharing the story with a global audience.

(What are your thoughts on the teaser and the debate around it? Write in to us at kabir@fpj.co.in)

Published on: Monday, April 06, 2026, 08:00 AM IST