Anand Sagar’s Ramayan, although a welcome diversion from today’s soap operas, in my opinion failed to capture the divinity of the purana, as compared to Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan. I acknowledge that the technology enhanced it somewhat, but it didn’t give me a satisfying impression of the setting of the story. Also, all the songs had the same exact tune, so it became boring after awhile.
As for the plot itself, I feel it was too elongated and stretched in unnecessary places. For example, the scene with Urmila and Lakshman meeting in the garden was totally unnecessary. And since when did Lakshman not want to marry Urmila? The speech he gave to her in the garden was supposed to be the one he gave to Shurpanaka later on!
While the actress who played Manthara did very well, there were way too many scenes with her that it became too much like a soap opera. This Ramayan also focused too many episodes on Mithila, adding things that no one really knows happened or not. I feel Anand Sagar added too many scenes that weren’t supposed to be in there and elongated other scenes, making it boring after awhile: ex. Ram, Lakshman, and Vishwamithra walking down the swayamvar hall took nearly a whole episode!
The characters all did a good job, but I disagree with the first review on the point that Gurmeet Choudhary (Ram) and Debina Bonerjee (Sita) surpassed Arun Govil (Ram) and Deepika Chikhalia (Sita) in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan. They did fine, but Arun Govil and Deepika played their role excellently. Although Arun Govil did look too old for his role, he made it up superbly by acting his role excellently. As for the role of Sita, I think it is the hardest acting it after Ram, because one has to show great divinity, chastity, and patience in their expressions, and I think Deepika succeeded in doing that very nicely. While Debina Bonnerjee’s acting wasn’t bad, I didn’t get the impression of Sita in her. It seemed she was too straightforward in her actions and words, while Sita wasn’t like that.
All in all, this Ramayan is OK compared to soap operas, and it succeeded nicely in teaching Hinduism’s beautiful traditions, but it is not nearly as good as Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan.