As Ayodhya gears up for the grand inauguration of the Ram Mandir on January 22, the whole nation joins in the preparations to celebrate this auspicious day with full excitement. Speaking of Ram Mandir, the incredible story of Ramayana has always fascinated everyone in our country and also around the world, and many filmmakers have tried their best to make movies drawing inspiration from the Hindu epic. Few have tried to retell the whole story in their movies, while others drew inspiration from the events that took place in the epic story. One of the most recent movies in this category is Om Raut's Adipurush, starring Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan. Arun Govil, Jr NTR, Jeetendra and Other Actors Who Portrayed Lord Ram on Screen.

While the country awaits the inauguration of the Ram Mandir at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, let us take a look at some of the best films based on Ramayana.

Lav Kush

Lav Kush is a 1997 Hindi language film that stars Jeetendra as Lord Rama, Jayaprada as Godess Sita, Arun Govil as Lakshmana and Dara Singh as Lord Hanuman. The movie starts with Lord Rama and Goddess Sita returning from Lanka to Ayodhya after defeating Raavan and later proceeds with the life story of their kids, Lav and Kush. Lav Kush was directed by V Madhusudhana Rao.

Sampoorna Ramayana

This 1961 movie stars Mahipal as Lord Rama, Anita Guha as Goddess Sita and B.M. VYas as Ravan. The movie became a huge hit after its release. The film is directed by Bahubali Mistry and produced by Basant Picture. Sampoorna Ramayana was a huge hit at the box office.

HanuMan

Actor Teja Sajja's recent release, HanuMan, is a film which focuses on Lord Hanuman but also portrays events from the epic Ramayana. The Telugu language superhero film is directed by Prasanth Varma and produced by Primeshow Entertainment. HanuMan was released on January 12 and is doing good at the box office.

Ram Setu

The 2022 action adventure film Ram Setu stars Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez and Nushrratt Bharuccha. An atheist ASI archaeologist, Dr Aryan Kulshreshth (Akshay Kumar) is given the task to prove that the bridge of Ram Setu was a natural formation. Dr Aryan ends up discovering various mysterious things during his journey that prove the existence of the bridge and later keeps the truth in front of the world. Ram Setu is directed by Abhishek Sharma. Ram Setu Movie Review: Akshay Kumar Is The Ultimate Saviour Of This Muddled Adventure Thriller! (LatestLY Exclusive!)

Adipurush

The 2023 film Adipurush, starring Prabhas and Kriti Sanon, directed by Om Raut, aimed to depict the Ramayana but fell short of expectations. Despite a massive budget, the film faced criticism for its poor historical portrayal, weak character development, and subpar VFX. The dialogues received particular backlash. The negative response escalated to the extent that some Hindu groups called for a ban, and director Om Raut and writer Manoj Muntashir even received death threats. The film was a complete blunder with few of its elements but is an average overall.

As we gear up for the special event of the Ram Mandir inauguration on January 22, let us also take a moment to reflect on how the Indian film industry has told the amazing tale of the Ramayana over the years.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 15, 2024 12:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).