Director: Hanu Raghavapudi
Producers: C. Ashwini Dutt, Swapna Dutt
Cinematography: Shreyaas Krishna, P.S. Vinod
Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Mrunal Thakur, Rashmika Mandanna, etc.
Release Language: Telegu
Plot (No Spoilers)
The story begins in 1985 when a young Pakistani student burns the car of a Philanthropist Indian in spite and hatred for India. In return he asks her to either let her hatred go and apologize or bring him 1 million dollars as compensation for damages in 1 month. She chooses the latter and goes to Pakistan where she is asked to deliver a letter with no permanent address to an Indian woman named “Sita” from Lieutenant “Ram” as the last will of her grandfather, a Pakistan Army officer, in return for the money. So full of spite and selfish agenda and fuming on the idea of how her grandfather can befriend an Indian Army officer, she sets out to India in order to find the unknown “Sita” and “Ram”.
As she starts finding out the story behind these two people the movie takes us to 1965 where the love story of “Ram” and “Sita” takes place. As she gets to know more about the people, she starts uncovering the story behind these two people and how their love blossomed for each other. The movie shows us their love story taking place in Kashmir, Hyderabad and Delhi. The twists and turns that happen in the love story as she finds out more and more about these two figures and what transpired 20 years ago.
Analysis
“You cannot expect good love stories nowadays”. If you have heard these words before I assure you this movie is going to make you completely reject the above statement.
Sita Ramam is one of the better executed modern movies which I have seen lately. The love story is well made with just the right elements in the right combination delivered at the right pace to the audience, keeping them interested and captivated. The visuals are rich and successfully captures the feel of India in 1965. The movie has all the right combinations which keeps the audience gripped until the very end. The story takes the cake. The love story slows down for a few minutes but catches up with the pace soon enough. It does not make the audience feel bored or irritated.
The best thing about it is that it does not contain any gross or cringe dialogues we are often shown in any such Bollywood movies. It’s a good, clean and proper love story (and a very good story at that!), as it should be, no adulterants added to unnecessarily spice the flavor. The actors did a fantastic job – Dulquer and Mrunal were phenomenal in their performances. Nowhere in the movie does the audience feel anything negative about the actor’s portrayal of the characters. The movie makes the audience feel what the actors are feeling – I think there can be no better compliment for the story and the actors.
There are, however, very few instances where the movie becomes predictable and tries to deliver that old ‘humanity’ message to the audience. But again, these are very few instances and the audience quickly moves past these.
Conclusion:
This movie recently turned a lot of heads when it became a hit at the box office, a feat most of the recent Bollywood movies miserably failed to do. This was a big thing because the movie was actually a clean love story – the genre being Romance which is now considered a recipe of the past, with an amazing story and good dialogues, unlike movies of Bollywood filled with their signature dialogues of sleazy innuendos.
I am the person who remains as far away from romance genre, be it books or movies, as one can humanly be, thinking them to be rubbish and boring. But once in a while an exceptional story comes out which I genuinely enjoy. So, if I say that this is a really good movie then believe me, I know what I am talking about. I deducted 1 star for those very few moments which I spoke about earlier.
I will say that this is worth a watch. A Good movie.
Literary Expeditions 