Ramayana VFX: 10,000 People Behind Film Need Support

Mumbai: The conversation around the visual effects of Ranbir Kapoor’s Ramayana has grown louder, and now two of India’s best-known VFX supervisors are asking audiences to separate fair criticism from trolling.

Yashoda Parthasarthy and Vijesh Rajan, whose credits include Sacred Games, Farzi and Gangs of Wasseypur, say the scale of the film alone is a reason to back it. Rajan told Hindustan Times, “There is some sort of campaign against the film,” and added that a project mounted on this scale should be supported.

A dream that started in film school

Rajan said he first imagined a project like Ramayana while studying in Australia. His thesis asked whether an Indian epic could ever be made on the scale of The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia.

That context is what he feels gets lost online. The film carries a global rollout, collaborations with Hans Zimmer, AR Rahman and top technicians, and the kind of budget and footprint few Indian films have attempted.

A wide global release for an Indian epic is not just a marketing milestone. It signals to international distributors that Indian mythology and spectacle can travel, which is why the supervisors frame support as an investment in the next wave of Indian films.

10,000 people behind the frames

Parthasarthy, who has also worked on Raman Raghav 2.0 and Ghoul, pointed to the labour behind every shot. “Those 10,000 people have worked on it,” she said. She added that photoreal work is often judged against Marvel or Avengers films, which work with budgets many times larger.

She also said there is a lack of research, empathy and understanding of how visual effects work. The result, she suggested, is criticism that feels heartbreaking to the artists who spent months on the film.

Here is what the supervisors are asking of fans:

• Keep discussing flaws; criticism is necessary.
• Skip coordinated pile-ons and trolling.
• Remember the thousands of artists behind the work.
• Support ambitious Indian films that can open global doors.

Critique the work, not the people

Neither supervisor is asking for a free pass. Both agree that technical flaws should be discussed. The distinction is tone: a specific note helps a craftsperson improve, while a wave of mockery sends the opposite message.

For Hindi film fans, the larger win is clear. Every time a big Indian film travels globally, it builds appetite for more Indian stories with stronger budgets and craft. Rate the VFX, but rate the effort that went into it too.

Parthasarthy and Rajan also have a new short film, Aakhri Ride, starring Chandan Roy and Aamir Dalvi, presented by Anurag Kashyap and Vasan Bala. It releases on the YouTube channel Oh Short Flips on October 31, Halloween.

Source: The Times of India