The verdict so far is split, not settled

Ramayana opened in cinemas today, November 5, and the first verdicts do not agree with each other. Some critics call it a landmark. Others call it a grand looking film that never quite finds its heart. That split is the story right now, and it runs through every part of the craft, from the effects to the music.

The Guardian gave the film four  stars out of five. Critic Peter Bradshaw called it rousing and hugely enjoyable, and he singled out the lead trio and the score by Hans Zimmer and A R Rahman. ScreenRant gave it 7 out of 10, praising the effects, the action, the cinematography and the music. Taran Adarsh went further and gave it five stars, calling it "SPECTACULAR" and a "truly STUNNING cinematic experience".

Then came the other side. Outlook India gave it 2.5 out of 5. IGN called it a "robotic adaptation". NYC Movie Guru called it "bloated, clunky, exhausting, emotionally hollow". Next Best Picture said it felt "stuffed at times".

What the VFX and scale got right

If one thing unites the reviews, it is the look of the film. Outlook India, even while marking it down, called the VFX immersive and said the scale was considerable. It said the environments had a grandeur that Indian mythological cinema has often struggled to reach. The visual effects were not decoration, the review said. They sat at the centre of the film ambition.

ScreenRant praised the same strengths, the effects, the fight scenes and the cinematography. IndieWire called the film "epic" and said its scale was the point, a three hour movie packed with battles, songs, gods and spectacle. The Jatayu sequence drew special praise from viewers on X, and the climax won some of the warmest words of all. One viewer who watched the second IMAX 3D show said the Airawat, Jatayu and forest segments were amazing, and the climax moved him to tears three times.

The work behind that scale took years. Nitesh Tiwari has said the Ravana and Jatayu fight took six and a half years to complete. The Pushpak Viman, Ravana flying vehicle, went through 40 to 50 designs over nearly two years. The film was shot for IMAX, with effects from DNEG. Even the harshest reviews rarely fault the craft of the world itself.

The Rahman and Zimmer score divides opinion

The music pairing is one of the biggest talking points of the film. A R Rahman and Hans Zimmer worked on the score together, and IndieWire singled it out for praise, noting that it is Zimmer first Indian film. The Guardian also picked out the score as a strength. Rapper Badshah, after watching the film, praised the background score along with the performances and the visuals, and rated the film "six on five".

But not everyone felt the music land. Some viewers on X listed the music among the film drawbacks, alongside the lengthy runtime and the weak Ram and Sita emotion. Outlook India took a middle line, saying the music works well in several stretches and adds to the film mythological atmosphere. So the score is not a clear win or a clear miss. It lifts the big scenes for many viewers, yet it does not rescue the quieter moments for others.

Tiwari direction: strong on scale, shaky on feeling

Nitesh Tiwari directed the film from a screenplay he wrote with Shridhar Raghavan, and the reviews judge him on two different skills. On scale, he passes with ease. Outlook India said he shows a clear understanding of the visual demands of a story this vast. ScreenRant said the cast was good across the board, with Yash Ravana given a fascinating focus in the first act.

On feeling, the reviews are less kind. Outlook India said his direction is less assured when it comes to holding the narrative together, and the screenplay struggles to give its many characters enough emotional depth. ScreenRant said Rama and Sita come across as one note, so a key late scene does not land emotionally. IndieWire said the film rarely slows down for its characters, with too many climaxes and too little quiet time.

The acting split follows the same line. Yash as Ravana is the one performance nearly everyone praises, a scholar, devotee of Shiva, ruler and warrior in one role, with his ten heads shown as different voices of his inner self. Ranbir Kapoor as Ram drew the harder notes. Outlook India said his Ram often feels anxious and uncertain, and lacks the expected composure of the character. Sai Pallavi brings agency to Sita, the review said, but the film gives the Ram and Sita bond surprisingly little room to grow, and songs often take the place of conversations.

What this means for your ticket

So what should you expect if you book a ticket this week? Expect a film that looks like nothing else on Indian screens right now, with effects, scale and a score that can fill an IMAX hall. Expect Yash to walk away with the loudest cheers, and expect the Jatayu sequence and the climax to be the scenes people talk about on the way out.

Do not expect a tight, quiet drama. At three hours and fifteen minutes, several reviewers say the length drags in the middle, and the Ram and Sita love story feels thin.

The honest read is that Ramayana is a craft triumph with a feeling problem. The direction, the effects and the score build a world worth seeing on the biggest screen you can find. Whether that world moves you will depend on how much you need the characters to match the scale around them. Book the IMAX show if you can, go in for the spectacle, and judge the heart of it for yourself.

What fans are saying on X

Taran Adarsh (@taran_adarsh) on X, as quoted by Filmibeat, gave the film five stars:

#OneWordReview... #Ramayana: SPECTACULAR. Rating: 5 stars... You haven't witnessed anything as MAGNIFICENT on the #Indian screen before... Scale. Visuals. Emotions. And SOUL - #Ramayana has it all.

Sources and reporting

  1. Outlook India — November 5, 2026 · Verifies the 2.5/5 rating, the VFX praise, the music verdict and the criticism of Ranbir Ram and the Ram Sita bond
  2. ABP Live — November 5, 2026 · Verifies audience praise for VFX, Yash Ravana, the Jatayu sequence and climax, plus criticism of music, runtime and Ram Sita emotion
  3. NewsPlainly — October 30, 2026 · Verifies the ScreenRant 7/10 rating, the IndieWire praise for scale and the Zimmer Rahman score, and the IGN and NYC Movie Guru pans