CAST: Dulquer Salman, Mrunal thakur, Rashmika Mandana, Sachin Khedekar, Sunil, Priyadarshi, Bhumika, Jisshu Sengupta, Prakash Raj, Praneeta Pattnaik, Rahul Ravindran
DIRECTED BY: Hanu Raghavapudi
Mahalakshmi (Mrunal Thakur’s debut in Telugu cinema) and Lt Ram (Dulquer Salmaan)’s love is explored through two timelines — 1964 and 1984 in this poignant love story.
Afreen (Rashmika Mandanna), a Pakistan-origin student arrives in India from London, when she is tasked with tracing Sita to hand over a 20-year-letter written to her by Ram. She takes the help of her college senior Balaji (Tharun Bhascker), who is now in Hyderabad.
The 1960s are canvased as a dream. Posted on the borders of Kashmir is Lt Ram. His fellow soldiers are his world; there is a close friend (played by Shatru), an envious officer (Sumanth as Brigadier Vishnu Sharma) and a commanding officer Major Selvan (Gautham Menon).
WATCH REVIEW
An All India Radio journalist (Rohini Molleti) terms Ram a lone ranger and requests listeners to write to him. Letters pour in, Including one from Sita who chides Ram for forgetting that he has a wife back home and that he isn’t an orphan.
Vishal Chandrashekhar’s music is retro for the 1960s and extremely delightful. The romance between Ram and Sita is so dreamy that you will want to have a Ram to yourself asap. The old school, charming romance will swipe you off your feet.
Costumes by Sheetal Sharma, production design by Sunil Babu, art direction by Vaishnavi Reddy and Faisal Khan, contribute extremely well for both the 1960s and the 80s set design.
Ram, Sita and a Hanuman (Vennela Kishore as Durjoy) before the intermission. Then, the story swings for the second half but even when it goes a bit off tangent, the love story is a hook you cannot let go
Rashmika’s self-centred Afreen with preconceived notions is one hell of a performance. Dulquer Salmaan is brilliant as Ram. Mrunal is extraordinary as Sita ( Dubbed by Chinmayi)
Sachin Khedekar, Sunil, Priyadarshi, Bhumika, Jisshu Sengupta, Prakash Raj, Praneeta Pattnaik, Rahul Ravindran all make their presence felt.
But Hanu Raghavapudi’s Sita Ramam is a lot more than just a warm love story. The story, screenplay and dialogues by Hanu, Raj Kumar Kandamudi and Jay Krishna present a bigger message that humanity matters more than war, boundaries and religion.
It is not wrong to love your country, but you don’t need to harbour such hatred for a neighbouring country, a wise man tells a young woman in the film. Quite relevant to these times.
Definitely a movie we would recommend
WATCH TRAILER HERE
