Hanu Raghavapudi’s vintage-international romance saga brims with earnestness and is helped via captivating performances from Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur, It isn’t incorrect to like your country, however you don’t want to harbour such hatred for a neighbouring country, a smart guy tells a greater younger lady withinside the movie. In some special scene, whilst she is given some references, with all of the names pertaining to at least one faith, she asks in exasperation if there isn’t everyone from her community. Director Hanu Raghavapudi’s Sita Ramam is lots greater than only a love tale.
The tale, screenplay and dialogues via Hanu, Raj Kumar Kandamudi and Jay Krishna journey at the concept that humanity topics greater than war, boundaries and faith. The concept is ever applicable especially in instances whilst discussions of ‘them’ and ‘us’ threaten to take over the discourse all round us.
Sita Ramam unravels the thriller surrounding its emerge as aware about characters
Sita Mahalakshmi (Mrunal Thakur’s debut in Telugu cinema) and Lt Ram (Dulquer Salmaan) thru timelines — 1964 and 1984. Afreen (Rashmika Mandanna), a Pakistan-starting location student arrives in India from London, whilst she is tasked with tracing Sita handy over a 20-year-letter written to her via Ram. She takes the assist of her university senior Balaji (Tharun Bhascker), who’s now in Hyderabad.
There is the unmistakable Mahanatihangover withinside the ones characters seeking to piece collectively a tale from the past, like Samantha and Vijay Deverakonda. Beyond this large similarity, thankfully Sita Ramam is an entirely new canvas. The discovery in Mahanati starts offevolved offevolved from an area of lack of expertise and the reporter’s want to discover a nicely tale at the same time as here, the adventure proves to be transformative and makes a person empathetic and shed preconceived notions of searching at humans thru the lens of faith and nationality.
The Sixties are offered like a dream. Posted at the borders of Kashmir at the snowy terrains is Lt Ram.
His fellow infantrymen are his international; there may be a costly friend (achieved via Shatru), a jealous officer (Sumanth as Brigadier Vishnu Sharma) and a commanding officer Major Selvan (Gautham Menon). An All India Radio journalist (Rohini Molleti) phrases Ram a lone ranger and requests listeners to jot proper all of the manner right all the way down to him. Letters pour in, Including one from Sita who chides Ram for forgetting that he has a companion lower once more domestic and that he isn’t an orphan.
We pay interest Sita (Chinmayi excelling at her dubbing activity) an awful lot earlier than we see her. Vishal Chandrashekhar’s track faucets into the unfashionable temper for each the Indian classical thrives withinside the songs further to the western-introduced on playful rating in some scenes.
Cinematographers P S Vinod and Shreyaas Krishna gift the hostile, icy terrain in all its glory and eeriness.
The breathtaking landscapes apart, they navigate the bloodless interiors artistically. For instance, take a look at how the mild streams in thru the patterned partitions whilst Major Selvan is addressing infantrymen earlier than a mission.
The attempt to make the romance seem poetic is plain from the time Ram embarks on a adventure to satisfy Sita; the technical group and the actors pull all stops to provide a captivating, vintage international romance that would sweep a person off their feet. At first glance, Sita may additionally come upon like a person from a dressing up drama of the past, have emerge as out in her fine in any respect instances, with winged eyeliner to boot. As the tale progresses and we apprehend her for who she is, the regal manner appears all of the greater appropriate.
Costumes via Sheetal Sharma, manufacturing layout via Sunil Babu, artwork path via Vaishnavi Reddy and Faisal Khan, make a contribution to defining each the Sixties and the 80s.
There’s Ram, Sita and a Hanuman (Vennela Kishore as Durjoy, a theatre actor). But the movie pulls a wonder on the intermission element that changes the whole lot thereafter.
Certain beats of the tale and a number of the twists may be foreseen.
Occasionally the narrative wavers or attempts too hard to make the tale seem poetic. The ‘kurukshetra’-like situation (sic) wherein Ram saves Sita, for instance. But those are occasional niggles. The romance stays soaking up and can hold you invested.
The writing does now no longer use its lady characters as props. In her first Telugu movie, Mrunal receives to play a person this is effective and but vulnerable. She does it with an entire lot of poise and conveys the emotional upheavals.
Sita Ramam is amongst Rashmika Mandanna’s higher films. She isn’t offered as an eye fixed sweet and given the scope to play a self-targeted person with preconceived notions, she performs it sure-footedly and suggests that she is activity to deal with nicely-written parts.
Ram is a person that appears tailormade for Dulquer Salmaan and he channels all his allure to painting it with grace and innocence. Tharun Bhascker is easy withinside the supportive thing that speaks a great Hyderabadi Telugu.
Several others make their presence felt in brief parts — Sachin Khedekar, Sunil, Priyadarshi, Bhumika, Jisshu Sengupta, Prakash Raj, Praneeta Pattnaik, Rahul Ravindran… the listing is long. Sumanth is convincing as an officer displaying his recommend streak.
Not the whole lot approximately Sita Ramam works to the quantity of creating it a traditional love tale the makers preferred it to be. Yet, the earnestness with which they’re attempting to relate a shifting tale of romance holds all of it collectively. The key characters can be referred to as Ram, Sita and Afreen. Change their names and faith however the essence of what the tale conveys will regardless of the truth that hold true. Therein lies the splendor of the tale.
