Posted:
Aishu and I were just exchanging PMs about our initial reactions to the show and one of mine turned into a full-on review; figured I'd share it here. I'm leaving out the bits of direct comparison but if anyone cares about 'em, we can exchange PMs too :P
Agree with Aishu that I'm not all that disappointed yet...
Agreed about Vishnu - they could've found someone capable of more graceful and crisp postures. The dubbing voice they used on him seems to be a Sagar staple - in the later half of SK he dubbed for Sarvadaman Banerjee as adult Krishna (and Vishnu), in Saibaba he dubbed for Mukul Nag who played Baba, in ASR he dubbed for Gurmeet during the Vishnu scenes, and now here he is again... the guy must know the "aap Mata Aditi thi" dialogue well enough to say it in his sleep, it's gotta be like his 5th time reciting it 😆
Anyway, Rishabh Shukla as Dashrath was alright - I expected more since he's an old mytho alum from BRC's Mahabharat, but his dialogue delivery was a kinda cliche. He improved later on in the episode, but overall he didn't have as much warmth about him as others who've played the role in the past.
The three queens look appropriately aged so that their being childless was a genuine concern - some serials don't capture that, whether it's these three in Ramayan or Yashoda in the Krishna stories. I liked Kaushalya best, she had that softness about her and her expressions during the scene with Vishnu before he takes to form of Ram came across as realistic motherly affection.
I liked Kaikeyi's costumes best, loveeeddd her green and red saree during the scene where they share the kheer but I thought her crown was too severe - reminded me of a dinosaur's plates - and her makeup was also excessive. Idk why but I can't stand it when people get their eyebrows done like that, all thin and high up so they're like almost an inch away from the eyes... that look of permanent surprise 😆 Anywho, her dialogue delivery was really stiff and sounded practiced rather than spontaneous.
Though her look was the most mediocre of the three, I preferred Sumitra's dialogue delivery in the one line that she got when they were lamenting to Vashisht about their childlessness. It was smooth, fluent, and promising; I think I'll like her as she gets more to do.
I didn't like the choice for Vashisht. Poor pronunciation and he just didn't have that rishi muni wala aura about him, IMO. You know how sometimes they're so well-chosen that you simply can't picture them withouth the beard and jata, and other times it's such a misfit on them that you wanna be the kid who rips it off and yells "YOU'RE NOT THE REAL SANTA" 😆 Too young, probably.
The sets: bedrooms looked dark and dingy like DBSK, but the outdoor patios and stuff were really nice. I loved where the putra kaameshti yagya scene was held; all the light colored pillars and curtains made it really pretty. The hall where they spoke with Vashisht also looked nice. Hope they find some happy medium between the dull bronze and gold of ASR and the cold, lifeless charcoal and pewter palette from JSK's Mathura sets and DBSK.
The music - I liked the stuti in the beginning, they went with the original RCM words as they had in RSR but the tune was a standard one from ASR and I thought they came together well. Ravindra Jain has found some nice new singers, but he himself needs to let others take over the high pitched notes now because sadly his voice has aged and the opening lines of the song describing Dashrath's journey to Shringi Rishi were just unbearable. Was relieved to see him singing as beautifully as always in a lower register during the Putra Kameshti song. Which, btw, had the same tune as Meghnaad's farewell song in RSR, just with a faster dadra rhythm. It looks like that's what we're going to get here - instead of original melodies, he'll use the ones from songs he hasn't recycled before 😆 Which is fine, I guess, but this particular tune was more poignant in its slower form from RSR. The last celebratory song was nice, sounded familiar but new at the same time and appropriately festive. The background music needs to be toned down, it's too loud and continuous making it hard to hear the dialogues sometimes.
The CGI shown in the heavens - not my favorite thing about new mythos, it always looks to flashy and fake. Wish they just kept it simple with plain skies, realistic water, and maybe some mist.
The writing - I don't understand why they felt the need to insert Kaikeyi saving Dashrath and receiving her boons into the same timeline of Ram's birth, when it was supposed to have happened much earlier. Strange decision. Also, they could be more subtle about Kaikeyi being Dashrath's favorite. That aarti scene felt too obvious. But other than that, the episode moved at a decent pace. Was relieved to hear that the series will have a predetermined, limited number of episodes; hopefully that means they will steer clear of random fictional tracks and stick to the main story.
Kinda looking forward to the next episode since the kid playing Ram looked SO adorable <3
Agree with Aishu that I'm not all that disappointed yet...
Agreed about Vishnu - they could've found someone capable of more graceful and crisp postures. The dubbing voice they used on him seems to be a Sagar staple - in the later half of SK he dubbed for Sarvadaman Banerjee as adult Krishna (and Vishnu), in Saibaba he dubbed for Mukul Nag who played Baba, in ASR he dubbed for Gurmeet during the Vishnu scenes, and now here he is again... the guy must know the "aap Mata Aditi thi" dialogue well enough to say it in his sleep, it's gotta be like his 5th time reciting it 😆
Anyway, Rishabh Shukla as Dashrath was alright - I expected more since he's an old mytho alum from BRC's Mahabharat, but his dialogue delivery was a kinda cliche. He improved later on in the episode, but overall he didn't have as much warmth about him as others who've played the role in the past.
The three queens look appropriately aged so that their being childless was a genuine concern - some serials don't capture that, whether it's these three in Ramayan or Yashoda in the Krishna stories. I liked Kaushalya best, she had that softness about her and her expressions during the scene with Vishnu before he takes to form of Ram came across as realistic motherly affection.
I liked Kaikeyi's costumes best, loveeeddd her green and red saree during the scene where they share the kheer but I thought her crown was too severe - reminded me of a dinosaur's plates - and her makeup was also excessive. Idk why but I can't stand it when people get their eyebrows done like that, all thin and high up so they're like almost an inch away from the eyes... that look of permanent surprise 😆 Anywho, her dialogue delivery was really stiff and sounded practiced rather than spontaneous.
Though her look was the most mediocre of the three, I preferred Sumitra's dialogue delivery in the one line that she got when they were lamenting to Vashisht about their childlessness. It was smooth, fluent, and promising; I think I'll like her as she gets more to do.
I didn't like the choice for Vashisht. Poor pronunciation and he just didn't have that rishi muni wala aura about him, IMO. You know how sometimes they're so well-chosen that you simply can't picture them withouth the beard and jata, and other times it's such a misfit on them that you wanna be the kid who rips it off and yells "YOU'RE NOT THE REAL SANTA" 😆 Too young, probably.
The sets: bedrooms looked dark and dingy like DBSK, but the outdoor patios and stuff were really nice. I loved where the putra kaameshti yagya scene was held; all the light colored pillars and curtains made it really pretty. The hall where they spoke with Vashisht also looked nice. Hope they find some happy medium between the dull bronze and gold of ASR and the cold, lifeless charcoal and pewter palette from JSK's Mathura sets and DBSK.
The music - I liked the stuti in the beginning, they went with the original RCM words as they had in RSR but the tune was a standard one from ASR and I thought they came together well. Ravindra Jain has found some nice new singers, but he himself needs to let others take over the high pitched notes now because sadly his voice has aged and the opening lines of the song describing Dashrath's journey to Shringi Rishi were just unbearable. Was relieved to see him singing as beautifully as always in a lower register during the Putra Kameshti song. Which, btw, had the same tune as Meghnaad's farewell song in RSR, just with a faster dadra rhythm. It looks like that's what we're going to get here - instead of original melodies, he'll use the ones from songs he hasn't recycled before 😆 Which is fine, I guess, but this particular tune was more poignant in its slower form from RSR. The last celebratory song was nice, sounded familiar but new at the same time and appropriately festive. The background music needs to be toned down, it's too loud and continuous making it hard to hear the dialogues sometimes.
The CGI shown in the heavens - not my favorite thing about new mythos, it always looks to flashy and fake. Wish they just kept it simple with plain skies, realistic water, and maybe some mist.
The writing - I don't understand why they felt the need to insert Kaikeyi saving Dashrath and receiving her boons into the same timeline of Ram's birth, when it was supposed to have happened much earlier. Strange decision. Also, they could be more subtle about Kaikeyi being Dashrath's favorite. That aarti scene felt too obvious. But other than that, the episode moved at a decent pace. Was relieved to hear that the series will have a predetermined, limited number of episodes; hopefully that means they will steer clear of random fictional tracks and stick to the main story.
Kinda looking forward to the next episode since the kid playing Ram looked SO adorable <3
comment:
p_commentcount