Title: Sita Ramam
Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Mrunal Thakur and others
Director: Hanu Raghavapudi
Run-Time: 154 Minutes
Rating: 3.5/5
It has been more than a decade since love stories churned out by Telugu cinema have become eventless. Most of the time, plot turns are shallow and when there is a tragedy, it looks borrowed or forced. For a change, ‘Sita Ramam’ jettisons run-of-the-mill ideas to narrate a meaty story packed with rich emotions, flavourful execution, and haunting ideas. Even when it presents melodrama, it doesn’t cry for attention.
In the mid-1960s or thereabouts, Lieutenant Ram (Dulquer) fell in love with a stranger (Mrunal Thakur as Sita Mahalakshmi) after trading letters with her. Twenty years later, the love story of Ram and Sita has been through a chequered journey full of twists and turns. Afreen (Rashmika Mandanna) is in search of Sita and she figures out that she has to first trace Ram. In the process, she learns about Ram’s edgy story which is a pack of unexpected incidents.
Hanu Raghavapudi pens a love story that is not over until it is over. That way, he makes things unpredictable. The tension inherent in how the romance between the Ram-Sita duo evolves keeps us invested without letting us demand frills.
The fusion of suspense and jaw-dropping execution is something this film excels at. Vishal Chandrasekhar’s background score is lilting and intense, as the case may be. The songs (right from those tuned to montages and chartbusters like ‘Inthandham’ and ‘Oh Sita Hey Rama’) acquire noble contexts of their own. Their placement is never out of the place. The cinematography by the PS Vinod-Shreyaas Krishna duo is spell-binding, matching the standards of first-rate Bollywood films.
For a period drama, ‘Sita Ramam’ does look a tad too colourful at times. But the multitude of emotions, the air of whimsicality, and the ensemble cast lend the whole film a glorious aura. Some of the combination scenes between the different characters are written to elicit feelings of gloom.
Mrunal Thakur’s is one of the loveliest performances by a female lead in recent times and there are no two ways about it. Her expressive eyes, her charming smile, and her graceful looks make her layered character look utterly believable. Dulquer Salmaan’s classy performance makes this love story an affair to remember. The chemistry between the lead pair is so pure and pristine that anything less than extraordinary music and cinematography would have been greatly disappointing.
Rashmika Mandanna adds a layer of suspense to the script with her performance. Sumanth’s Brigadier Vishnu Sharma and Jisshu Sengupta’s character are neat. Shatru is good as Ram’s fellow soldier, while Sachin Khedekar, Gautham Menon, Prakash Raj, Vennela Kishore and Tharun Bhascker are fine.
Indo-Pak conflict with Kashmir as the centre stage is a trope this film uses to give unusual situations and rousing moments. The action scenes are more about the underlying emotions rather than stunts.
Also Read| Dulquer Salmaan, Mrunal Thakur, Hanu Raghavapudi get teary eyed after watching Sita Ramam with fans
Watch the trailer of Sita Ramam below:
