Sai Pallavi’s Sita vs. The 1987 Classic: Dipika Chikhlia Reacts to Action Sequence

Sai Pallavi’s Sita in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana is sparking debate — not just for the film’s scale, but for a single sequence that has fans divided. The action-heavy moment, where Pallavi’s Sita takes on warriors with grace and grit, has drawn sharp reactions online. Some praise the bold reimagining. Others call it a stretch too far.

And now, veteran actress Dipika Chikhlia, who played Sita in the iconic 1987 Ramanand Sagar series, has weighed in. She hasn’t seen the film yet, but she did watch the trailer clip on Instagram. 'I really don’t know,' she said. 'The memory I have of Valmiki’s Ramayana… I don’t remember those kinds of scenes.' Her tone wasn’t dismissive, but cautious.

'There are more than 300 Ramayanas in our country,' she noted. 'Every story, every Ramayana is a little different.' That’s her way of acknowledging the creative liberty taken, without endorsing it. The film’s makers may have drawn from lesser-known regional versions, or even mythological texts outside the mainstream canon. But the internet isn’t waiting for scholarly footnotes.