Ram Gopal Varma calls Ramayana a 'devotional force', praises Ranbir Kapoor, Yash and Anupam Kher, and tells makers to ignore critics as 'barking street dogs'.
Ram Gopal Varma has thrown down the gauntlet. Not with a film, not with a script — but with a tweetstorm. On Monday morning, the Rangeela filmmaker unleashed a full-throated defence of Ramayana, calling its detractors 'barking street dogs' and declaring the film a 'devotional force' that doesn’t just tell a story, but demands you live it.
The review, long, lyrical, and unapologetically theatrical, arrived just days after the film crossed ₹500 crore worldwide, though its domestic numbers remain steady, not spectacular: ₹238.85 crore net in India over four days. Global gross? ₹507.20 crore. Not a disaster. Not a triumph.
Just… there. And now, RGV is here to say it’s something more. He’s not talking about box office. He’s talking about legacy.
He’s talking about vision. He’s talking about how the film moves, without explaining itself. That’s what he says sets it apart. ‘In a time when most films are still wary to move, this one simply moves,’ he wrote.
No hand-holding. No exposition. Just raw, unfiltered weight. He sees Lord Rama not as a god above the frame, but as a man who’s already seen the end of the world, and walks into it anyway.
Ranbir Kapoor’s performance? In the silence after Sita’s abduction, grief isn’t shown, it’s calculated. ‘Grief has already been converted into an arithmetic.’ Yash as Ravana? Not a villain.
A mind that’s accepted destruction as destiny. His voice never rises. His body never shifts. He states the price.
That’s power. Anupam Kher as Jatayu? Wings broken, bloodied, falling, but eyes locked on the sky. No cry.
Only the last argument behind the eyes. That, RGV insists, is not sacrifice. It’s will. The film, he says, isn’t devotional.
It’s devotional force. And anyone who disagrees? They’re barking at an elephant. The makers, he urges, should treat critics like stray dogs.
The response? Mixed. Some fans lit up. Others rolled their eyes.
One Twitter user said, ‘This is exactly why I don’t trust RGV’s takes anymore.’ But the real question isn’t whether the film works for him. It’s whether his language, so dense, so dramatic, so utterly unlike any other review out there, matters now. The film’s already in theatres. The numbers are set.
The controversy is simmering. What happens next? The awards season. And if RGV’s right, the film won’t be judged by critics.
It’ll be felt.
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