Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama – Know More about the Japanese Anime Ramayana
Adipurush might be receiving mixed reviews from audiences and critics but lately the anime Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama is getting more popular. This ‘epic’ movie was a huge collaboration of 450 Indian and Japanese artists, was made over a span of 2 years and the production cost was $13 million (much higher as per those times)! The movie has a IMDB rating of 9.2 (even higher than Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana)!. Many believe Ramayana: The Prince of Legend Rama to be the best portrayal of the epic on screen, even better than Ramanand Sagar’s legendary TV Series of 1987. It is also referred to as “Cartoon Network Ramayana” or “Japanese Ramayana.”
Here, in this article, we tell you more about this Japanese animated version of Ramayana, its making, release, reception, and what makes it so special.
The Story
The movie starts from the time when Prince Rama was exiled for 14 years and ends with Lord Rama’s army defeating the demon king Ravana and returning to Ayodhya in triumph. A movie with a total of two hours and fifty minutes, Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama was released in English and Hindi dubbed versions.
Who Created Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama?
Yugo Sako, a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and producer, came to India while he was working on the documentary film “The Ramayana Relics’ based on excavations by famous archaeologist, Dr. B.B Lal in Ayodhya and liked the epic tale of Ramanaya. So much so, that he read all the 10 different versions of Ramayana translated in Japanese. He came up with the idea of creating a movie based on it. Since he thought that no actor could do justice to the role of Rama, an anime series based on the story of Ramayana was ideated.
The anime production started in 1990 by the producer Yugo Sako and the executive producer Atsushi Matsuo. Sako was so determined to create the movie that he visited India almost 60 times over a long period of a decade and cost him over $13 million to bring the final product to the big screens!
Image Source: Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama on Twitter
Yugo Sako, the creator of this movie died on 24 April 2012 at the age of 84. He was best remembered for creating this cult movie.
The Making of Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama
The Japanese Anime Ramayana started its production with two animation directors- Koichi Saski from Japan, and Ram Mohan from India, who is also known as the Father of Animation in India. The parts of the production were also divided into teams from India and Japan. And, together a total of 450 people worked tirelessly to design over 100,000 hand-drawn celluloid pictures and completed the whole story by the end of 1992!
The movie production was dived into two teams- Indians (handling scenario, dialogue recording, music, art settings, etc), and Japanese (handling animation, hand-painted drawings, storyboarding, photography, editing, etc.) A plethora of writers, music directors, dubbing artists, and actors also participated from India to complete the project. Many top-notch animators who had worked in Hayao Miyazaki’s works also worked on this project.
The dubbing for the Hindi version of the movie was done by many prominent actors like Shatrugn Sinha, Namrata Sawhney, and Amrish Puri. Interestingly, the dubbing for a few parts was done by the actors who played the same roles in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana like Arun Govil for Rama, and Dara Singh for Hanuman. The dubbing for the English version also featured a few prominent names including Rahul Bose and Cyrus Broacha.
The soundtrack of the movie also featured some of the most renowned singers of the Hindi film industry back then including Vinod Rathod, Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam and Kavita Krishnamurthy. The music was composed by Vanraj Bhatia.
The Release of Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama
This movie was first screened at the 24th International Film Festival of India held in Delhi in 1993. The movie’s release in India was at first delayed for a few years. due to communal tensions after the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the following riots. It was only in the year 1997 that the Hindi dubbed version of the movie was released in India.
Meanwhile, the movie has widespread releases in Japan and USA. It was released in the United States as Warrior Prince or The Prince of Light: The Legend of Ramayana in 2001. The movie was also critically acclaimed in these countries.
#TIL Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama by Japanese director Yugo Sako was later released in the United States as The Prince of Light: The Legend of Ramayana with prince Rama voiced by Bryan Cranston. pic.twitter.com/uQesONU6NH
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) June 17, 2023
Why was it not so popular at the time of its release?
The anime movie Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama had to face a lot of problems right from its inception. The Indian Government was at first apprehensive of representing deities as animated characters. A few Hindu groups also objected to foreigners unfairly representing a great Indian cultural icon.
In 1997, the movie finally got a theatrical release in India but with a very limited number of screens only in the metro cities. It is said to have disappeared from the screens within a couple of weeks despite receiving acclaim in other countries and film festivals across the world. Some attribute the lukewarm response to the movie at the box office to poor marketing.
Recent Interest & Praise for Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama
This movie premiered on a popular kid’s channel – Cartoon Network a few years after its theatrical release and soon acquired its own cult following after its repeat telecasts. The movie, in fact, is also referred to as “Cartoon Network Ramayana” by many.
Some of the reasons why all of us still get nostalgic about this movie: The animation was ahead of its time with a fusion technique used of Japanese Manga, US Disney animation, and Ravi Varma’s painting style. The movie’s animation also included all the cultural aspects of India like jewelry, dressing style and facial expressions, etc. In fact, the Indian animators guided their Japanese counterparts in drawing intricate dressing details like dhoti! Besides, it has been hailed for respecting Indian traditions and representing them in the right manner.
In the year 2022, current Indian PM Narendra Modi visited Japan and met the executive producer of the movie Atsushi Matsuo, and the assistant producer Kenjii Yoshi and mentioned this movie in the Mann Ki Baat episode, piquing the interest of many Indians. A 4K digitally remastered version of this movie was also released in March 2022, almost 30 years after its first release,
YouTube is full of praises for this version of Ramayana, especially after the release of Adipurush:
Twitter users also hailed Ramyana: The Legend of Prince Rama after the disappointment with Adipurush
Made in Japan in 1992 yet 100x better than Adipurush.
Ramayana: The legend of Prince Rama!❤️#AdipurushDisaster pic.twitter.com/mN6pLegqgQ
— Himanshi Mehra 🔱 (@manshi_mehra_) June 17, 2023
In the 1992 Japanese anime film
‘Ramayana : The legend of Prince Rama’.Hanuman ji respectfully joins his hands in Pranaam gesture while conversing with Mata Sita.
It seems the Japanese have a better understanding of Indian culture than Bollywood Wokes.#Adipurush pic.twitter.com/ujZPwCDv0A
— 🇮🇳Tanmay Kulkarni🇮🇳 (@Tanmaycoolkarni) June 16, 2023
If you are a 12-year-old kid, then you will like “Adipurush.”
But, I’m very glad I grew up watching the OG “Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama. pic.twitter.com/6xm1Ty1Nv3— Shraddha Bansode (@im_shraddha12) June 17, 2023
How Can you watch Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama?
If you feel like watching this wonderful anime movie, then the good news is that you can watch it on the movie’s official YouTube channel for free.
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(Image Sources: Screengrabs from Ramayana : The Legend Of Prince Rama)