Sita Ramam Movie Review: Enjoyable with Rich Frames

Movie: Sita Ramam
Evaluation: 2.75/5
Banner: Swapna Cinemas / Vyjayanthi Movies
Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Mrunal Thakur, Rashmika, Sumanth, Tharun Bhascker, Bhumika Chawla, Vennela Kishore, Murli Sharma and others
Music: Vishal Chandrasekhar
PDO: PS Vinod, Shreyaas Krishna
Dialogs: Hanu Raghavapudi, Jay Krishna, Raj Kumar Kandamudi
Editor: Kotagiri
Production designer: Sunil Babou
Artistic director: Vaishnavi Reddy, Faisal Ali Khan
Producers: Swapna Dutt, Priyanka Dutt
Written and directed by: Hanu Raghavapudi
Release date: August 05, 2022

The production house that gave us hit movies like ‘Mahanati’ and ‘Jathi Ratnalu’ produced ‘Sita Ramam’. The promos, trailers, songs, and interviews sparked interest in the film as they are different from the usual. Dulquer Salmaan acting in a lead role and Rashmika playing one of the lead roles also created buzz.

Let’s discover its merits and demerits.

Story:
In 1985, Afreen (Rashmika Mandanna), a Pakistani student studying in London, hates India. When she is given the task of delivering a letter, written by Lieutenant Ram (Dulquer Salmaan) to Sita Mahalakshmi (Mrunal Thakur) in India, she reluctantly agrees.

She learns that the letter was written in 1965 by Ram. In his quest to find Sita, Afreen discovers the beautiful love story of Ram and Sita. She must also find an answer about her relationship with Ram.

Artist services:
Both Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur are a perfect fit for their roles, both are charming and share wonderful chemistry with each other, and are compelling in their roles. Rashmika in a brief but important role makes her presence felt.

Sumanth gets a meatier character that has more substance towards the end of the story. Vennela Kishore’s comedy bit is boring. Tarun Bhascker Dassyam doesn’t have much to do.

Technical Excellence:
Technically, the film is rich in every way. Cinematographers PS Vinod and Shreyaas Krishna captured Kashmir and other locations beautifully, and some frames look like paintings.

Vishal Chandrasekhar’s music is classy and melodious. The assembly is neat. The production design is perfect. The dialogues, however, are a bit dated.

Strong points:
The chemistry of Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur
Cinematography and music
The last hour

Inconvenience:
The first servings
Slow pace

Analysis
Director Hanu Raghavapudi’s “Sita Ramam” is not only a love story, but also speaks of humanity, patriotism and sacrifice. Although it begins and unfolds like a romantic drama, the film has a strong message: choose humanity over enmity, love over war. It has different time frames and many locations to cover including London, Kashmir, Pakistan and Hyderabad.

“Sita Ramam” begins with the story of Afreen from Rashmika. Just like “Mahanati” and “KGF”, it goes back and forth to talk about two different threads and eventually they are merged. Interestingly, the story keeps a few twists in its belly.

The story of Sita and Ram starts in Kashmir and moves to Hyderabad and moves to Kashmir again. They introduced themselves by letters in 1965. But before seeing the main romantic track between Dulquer and Mrunal Thakur, many unnecessary sequences keep coming and these portions are boring. The comedy scenes further spoil the mood.

The film and the story enter the groove just before the intermission. Slowly the drama escalates and the interest grows. The last hour is captivating and moving.

While one is challenged by the richness of the plots throughout the film, the last 40 minutes of the film are the soul. The last act is captivating. Director Hanu Raghavapudi also made sure to keep some story surprises in these portions. No wonder the movie gets its meter right at the end.

Two scenes stand out…
1. The twist of Sita’s true identity
2. Dulquer sequence with Sumanth in Pakistan

The melodious songs are another highlight of this elegant tale.

As said before, the initial parts and the comic parts should have been better edited.

All in all, accentuated by the “Sita Ramam” technique, it’s a clean, well-told love story. Watch it for the lead pair’s chemistry, beautifully shot frames, and final 40 minutes. Despite issues like slowness and length, this is a good watch for multiplex audiences and people looking for classy dramas.

At the end of the line : Classy style