Nitish Bharadwaj withdraws praise for Ramayana film, says he is upset after watching it

Actor Nitish Bharadwaj, who became a household name playing Lord Krishna in B.R. Chopra's popular television serial Mahabharat, is in the news over the film Ramayana. He is said to be deeply upset and disappointed after watching it, and has withdrawn his earlier praise of the film. According to Bharadwaj, there is nothing in the film worth praising.

Bharadwaj expressed his displeasure in an Instagram post. He believes the Ramayana is not an ordinary story made merely for entertainment, but an important part of India's culture, spiritual thought and civilisation. Millions of people are deeply attached to the epic, so it is not right to change its characters, their ideas and their significance at will. He said he had no words to praise the film.

The actor particularly questioned the way Ravana is shown in the film. He said Lord Vishnu took the avatar of Shri Ram to protect dharma, preserve tradition and establish honour. But the film portrays Ravana as a benevolent, socially just and fair ruler. In Bharadwaj's view, such a portrayal alters the original message and moral foundation of the Ramayana.

In his statement, Bharadwaj said clearly that he was very saddened and disappointed by the film. He wrote, "I withdraw my initial praise of the film. I do not have a single good thing to say about it. The true soul, ideas and spiritual depth of an epic cannot be presented merely by showing spectacular VFX."

Bharadwaj also said films should depict Indian culture and heritage responsibly. In his view, if a film's story misrepresents India's history, culture and spiritual values, it should not be regarded as representing Indian cinema internationally.

Bharadwaj had praised the film after watching its trailer. He had then also said the film had a good chance of a place in the Oscars' best international feature category. After watching the whole film, however, his opinion changed completely.

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana was released in cinemas on November 5. Ranbir Kapoor plays Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi plays Sita and Yash plays Ravana. Ravi Dubey, Arun Govil and Lara Dutta are among the other actors in the film.