While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana (1986) is really very pleasantly presented and you can watch it endlessly. I watch it over and over again. But, main problem that i see in this series that makes it old and sometimes outdated for the advanced graphic seeking generation is the lack of good effects in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana (1986) episodes.There should be re-development of this series by same production and direction team and i hope they maintain the same pleasant and respectful presentation of the show.I really appreciate the show like this and the most important thing that makes Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana (1986) series even more interesting and pleasant to watch is amazing casting. All the major casts are just perfect for their roles and that i think should be the major concern of all the series.

When "Ramayan" aired, India (even then having a population over 900 million) came to a standstill. Buses stopped running, religious services (Hindu and non-Hindu) were rescheduled, and everyone stopped what they were doing for 30 minutes every Sunday morning to watch the ancient Indian epic brought to life on television. It's hard to believe that something like that is possible, but it really happened. Despite being dismissed by some as a cheap production with garish sets, cheesy special effects, and melodramatic dialogue, "Ramayan" was and continues to be a phenomenon.True, the production is quite obviously very low budget and it shows in the special effects and sets. (Tollywood director Bapu's "Seeta Kalyanam" a.k.a. "Seeta Swayamvar" shows a much better production, even though it, too, was low-budget.) Some of the same actors are used repeatedly for various minor roles and voices. At times, it does look like a high school production. But, what Ramanand Sagar (who, in my opinion, is otherwise a mediocre filmmaker) has done here is spectacular. Despite all of the above, "Ramayan" works incredibly well because one can sense that a great deal of devotion went into making it. This is a series that really has a heart and soul. Every time I watch "Ramayan," I have a religious experience.The dialogue might sound melodramatic to some (and sometimes it is), but the script is extremely faithful to the original texts that it is based off of. Sometimes, lines are directly quoted from Valmiki or Tulsidas and translated into Hindi. "Ramayan" takes very little dramatic license and so what is presented on screen is an accurate presentation of the source texts. This gives "Ramayan" value not only to devout Hindus but also to students of Hindu religion and Indian epic poetry, both of whom can watch the series and get a good understanding of the works of Valmiki, Tulsidas, and others. The feeling conveyed in the television series is the feeling conveyed from a recital of the epic itself.What also helps this series tremendously is the music by Ravindra Jain. Indian storytelling in general (both in film and in religious sermons) has a tradition of mixing dialogue with songs. Here, Ravindra Jain uses music to its fullest advantage. There are plenty of songs throughout the series, but they are placed in perfect situations. This is not the typical Bollywood style of breaking into song and dance at random and inappropriate places. Instead, rather than boring the audience with a long battle scene filled with cheap special effects, the battle is shown with a song describing the battle. Scenes of devotion naturally have devotional music with them. Transition scenes are accompanied by lines of Tulsidas. In fact, Jain sometimes cleverly and seamlessly merges his own lyrics with the poetry of Tulsidas, creating songs that are modern masterpieces of music.I'm generally satisfied with the casting choices. Arun Govil and Deepika do well as Rama and Sita. Dara Singh is not an incredibly talented actor (he is originally a wrestler), but it worked for me to have him as Hanuman. My three favorite performances, though, are Sunil Lahri as Lakshmana (he's got Lakshmana's angry look down perfectly), Vijay Arora as Indrajit (he's got the boisterous personality down), and veteran character actress Lalita Pawar as Manthara (a perfect choice, as Pawar made a career out of playing literally hundreds of Manthara-like characters). Arvind Trivedi is not bad as Ravana, but he does not have the physically dominating presence that Ravana would need to have. Ravana should be tall, dark, muscular, and handsome, and Trivedi is none of those things. Still, not a bad performance on his part. (As an aside, the single worst casting choice is the actor picked to play Parshurama in one episode early on in the series; they picked somebody less than 5 feet tall to play a domineering character and it completely doesn't work.)We tend to put all of that aside, though, because of just how well the story works for us. "Ramayan" made religion fashionable on Indian television. This is why some scholars list Ramanand Sagar (who, I reiterate, was an otherwise mediocre filmmaker) as one of 4 men (along with Valmiki, Tulsidas, and Kamban) who has shaped modern interpretations of the Ramayana story. That is quite an achievement, to be one of the four main forces that guide a tradition that dates back thousands of years, all on a budget (I'm told) of Rs. 100,000 per episode.Really, I've already said more than needs to be said. All that really needs to be said is that "Ramayan" brought India to a STANDSTILL!

This lengthy television adaptation of THE RAMAYANA is entertaining as long as the viewer has a working familiarity with Hindu mythology and is patient enough to enjoy the liesurely pace. I don't think it's likely to win over anyone who comes to the material cold or who comes to it expecting Spielberg-level special effects.It's refreshing to see a visual realization of something other than Graeco-Roman mythology since, fascinating as that subject is, it's already gotten pretty sizeable exposure in movies and on television. Rama and Sita come alive nicely in this production and unsurprisingly Hanuman manages to steal a few scenes. The style is faithful to the original epic so anyone who loves the story doesn't have to fear that it's been transformed into a slam-bang all-action blockbuster.

His Holiness, His Divine Grace, Maharishi Ramanand Sagar has done excellent job.From all the characters in the epic, I like His Divine Grace Ram and Her Divine Grace Sita.I would like to add that in reality Ram or sita could not have been better than they appear in epic.Thank you very much for your kind considerations.With Very Best Regards.