From ‘Sampoorna Ramayanam’ to ‘Adipurush’, how Ramayana has remained Telugu cinema’s go-to storyline

So, why is Ramayana still such a draw with the audiences? The good-triumphs-over-evil factor, of course. The characters and story are familiar, and the emotions are vivid.

Let’s look at how the versions of Ramayana evolved with the changing times on the Telugu silver screen from the 1950s.

Ramayana over the years

Poster of ‘Lava Kusa’. (Supplied)

Most mythological films in Telugu like Sri Rama Rajyam (2011) have been inspired by “Uttara Kanda“, the added part of the original chapters of Ramayana. The film depicts the story after the war against Ravana, the island king.

The most popular films, to date in this genre have been Lava Kusa (1963), Sampoorna Ramayanam (1958, 1961, 1971 — three films with the same title) and Sri Rama Rajyam starring Nandamuri Balakrishna and Nayanthara.

Sampoorna Ramayanam (1971) and Bala Ramayanam (1996), directed by Bapu and Gunasekhar, respectively, captured Ramayana in its true sense.

From Bharatha’s perspective

The Tamil mythological film that came out in the year 1958, starring Sivaji Ganesan as Bharatha and NT Rama Rao as Rama, captured the story from Bharatha’s perspective. Interestingly, its title too was Sampoorna Ramayanam.

The story was told from Bharatha’s perspective when Lord Rama and Sita were exiled for 14 years. Bharatha was supposed to become the king.

But he was tormented with grief knowing the deeds of his mother Kaikeyi. Thus he declines to take the reins of the kingdom.

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Children’s special

Poster of ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’. (Supplied)

Jr NTR-starrer Bala Ramayanam, which was directed by Gunasekhar in the year 1997, was not so commercially successful. However, it went well with the taste of children.

Although the story is a repetition of Lord Rama and his retaliation against Ravana for kidnapping his wife Sita, the film managed to gather decent talk for its narrative with child characters.

Critically acclaimed

Sita Kalyanam (1976), a Bapu directorial, was a major hit at several international film festivals and was a rare interpretation of Ramayana in a musical form.

The entire film largely unfolds through songs and director Bapu achieved visual artistry despite no graphics or VFX.

From Ravana’s perspective

Poster of ‘Bookailaas’. (Supplied)

Two major films focusing on Ravana’s side are Sita Rama Kalyanam (1961) and Bhookailas (1958), both starring NT Rama Rao as the titular character Ravanasura. Bhookailas is based on the Sthala Purana of Gokarna Kshetram, located in Karnataka. The film was also released in Tamil with the name Bhakta Ravana.

Interestingly, a film was made with the same story casting different artists in Tamil a few decades back in 1938, and in Telugu in 1940 with the same title Bhookailas.

They were adaptations of the famous Kannada stage play Bhookailasa enacted by Sri Sahitya Samrajya Nataka Mandali of Mysore.

Later, filmmaker AV Meiyappan shot the movie in Kannada with the title Bhookailasa starring Kannada’s cultural icon and actor Rajkumar.

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Other versions

Bapu’s directorial Sri Ramanjaneya Yuddham, starring NT Rama Rao, released in 1975. It’s based on a popular play and folklore story, which mentions a possible fight that took place between Lord Rama and Lord Hanuman.

Bapu made it into a film and scored a hit. Later, in 1978, Sri Rama Pattabhishekam was made by NTR where he played both Lord Rama and Ravana. But then, it didn’t work well with the fans.

Not to forget Mani Ratnam’s Raavan (2010) starring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, which tells a modern-day story but was also loosely inspired by the Ramayana.

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Novelty factor in Adipurush 

Poster of Prabhas starrer ‘Adipurush’. (Supplied)

The novelty factor in Adipurush is expected to be low. Because there is nothing new to be conveyed. It would have been a refreshing story had it been told from Lakshamana’s perspective.

Perhaps, Adipurush will be more arresting with special effects, animation made using motion picture technology, and telling a story according to the times.

The music was the strength of all interpretations of Ramayana in the films that have come so far — Sri Rama Rajyam, Sita Rama Kalyanam, or Lava Kusa.

But in Prabhas’ film, to date, the music hasn’t looked promising.

Hindi audiences to relish Adipurush 

Adipurush is likely to be a new experience for north-Indian audiences. Because as an audience, they haven’t been exposed to Ramayana as much as people in the South have.

Several versions have kept rolling out in Telugu, Kannada and Tamil languages over the decades but not in Bollywood.

There were no popular successful retellings of Ramayana in Hindi. Except for the serial version of Ramayana by Ramanand Sagar. It entertained people during the 1990s on Doordarshan.

It was re-telecast during the Covid-19 lockdown and received good TRPs.

Related: Made ‘Adipurush’ with lots of love and respect: Actor Prabhas

Veterans vs new-age filmmakers 

Poster of ‘Sitarama Kalyanam’. (Supplied)

While the Prabhas-starrer is up for release, another version of Ramanaya is taking shape in Bollywood. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, this untitled film features Ranbir Kapoor as Rama and Alia Bhatt as Sita.

It is about to go on the floors later this year. But how will it be relevant today? Well, the answer to the question is still elusive.

Is it fair to rope in stars to make such stories? What do current-day filmmakers have, beyond technology, to capture the essence of Ramayana?

The veterans of those times, like Bapu, and other yesteryear filmmakers, were all well-versed in epics and its poetic renditions.

So, they were naturally ready to take stories of that calibre and direct them successfully. But today’s crop is not as exposed to the epics.

Directors and writers have become more tech-savvy. In this age of less art and more technology, will it be possible to do justice while retelling the Ramayana yet again?

And maybe it is time to retell the Ramayana tales through the eyes of women — probably from Sita’s perspective, or even Surpanaka’s.