Ramayana: Part One divides first-day audiences as Yash's Ravana and the Jatayu climax steal the praise
First-day viewers have praised Ramayana: Part One's visual scale and Yash's Ravana, while a vocal minority has criticised its lengthy runtime, music and emotional thread.
Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Part One has split its first-day audience into two clear camps, even as it opened to packed houses and a flood of online reaction on Thursday, 5 November. The film, which reached cinemas worldwide after premiere shows on Wednesday evening, has been praised almost unanimously for its visual scale, while its storytelling, music and running time have drawn a much sharper debate.
The strongest praise has centred on Yash as Ravana. Viewer after viewer has singled out his screen presence and the confrontation with Jatayu as the film's high point, with several calling the performance a career best and describing the Jatayu sequence, including the climax, as the scene worth the ticket alone. One viewer who watched a second IMAX 3D show rated the film 4.5 out of 5 and said the ending moved them to tears three times.
Ranbir Kapoor, who plays Lord Rama, and Sai Pallavi, who plays Sita, have also drawn warm words from many early viewers, along with Ravi Dubey as Lakshman and Rakul Preet Singh as Shurpanakha. Supporters have described Kapoor's Rama as calm and graceful, and have praised the opening stretch of the film, the forest sequences and the sheer amount of craft visible on screen.
The technical side of the production is the one area where the early verdict is close to unanimous. Audiences and reviewers have praised the visual effects, cinematography and production design, with DNEG's effects work repeatedly mentioned, and the background score by A. R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer singled out for lifting the emotional and action scenes, even by some viewers who were less impressed by the songs.
Not everyone left the cinema convinced, however. A vocal minority of first-day viewers rated the film average, arguing that the story felt unexciting in places, that the emotional connection between Ram and Sita did not land as strongly as they had hoped, and that the film's length tested their patience. The film runs for 195 minutes, or three hours and fifteen minutes, and that running time has become one of the main talking points of the day.
One widely shared verdict summed up the split neatly, listing outstanding effects, production and Yash's episodes alongside the Jatayu sequence as the highlights, while naming the music, the Ram-Sita emotional thread, the storyline and the lengthy runtime as drawbacks, and settling on a single word: average. Other viewers were harsher still, calling the second half draggy and the narration soulless despite the grand making.
The disagreement is itself a sign of how much was riding on the release. Ramayana: Part One is the first half of a two-part adaptation of the ancient epic, directed by Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra, and it has been positioned as one of the most ambitious Indian films ever mounted, with a cast that also includes Sunny Deol as Hanuman and Arun Govil as King Dasharatha. It arrived in cinemas after months of anticipation, advance bookings and a premiere that drew much of Bollywood.
Early trade and critic reaction had already leaned positive before the general audience verdict arrived, with India TV rating the film 4 out of 5 and several reviewers giving it full or near-full marks for scale, emotion and soul. The first-day audience response now adds a more complicated picture: the same grandeur that thrilled one section of viewers left another section admiring the craft while feeling less moved by the drama.
What happens next will depend less on social media praise than on how the film holds up over its first weekend. A film of this size needs repeat viewing and strong word of mouth to sustain its run, and the split verdict suggests its fate may hinge on whether families and younger viewers, who have driven the most enthusiastic reactions so far, keep turning out after the opening rush.
For now, Ramayana: Part One has achieved the one thing every large release wants on day one: it has everyone talking. Whether that conversation turns into a sustained run at the box office, or settles into a debate about spectacle versus story, will become clear over the coming days, ahead of the second part, which is planned for Diwali 2028.
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