Why ‘Ramayana’ gets forgiven for the VFX that ‘Adipurush’ never did

Some films are judged by what is on the screen. Others are judged by what the audience brings into the theatre. Nitesh Tiwari’s ‘Ramayana Part 1’, which opened on 5 November 2026, belongs firmly to the second group. It is reported to have earned around Rs 64.85 crore net in India on its first day, and the conversation since then has been less about whether the effects are flawless and more about how much that matters.

Better than ‘Adipurush’, short of ‘Baahubali’

The effects sit in the middle of two very different reference points. They are a long way from the mocked and reworked visuals of ‘Adipurush’. They also stop short of the original, world building confidence that made ‘Baahubali’ a landmark for Indian spectacle.

The work is by DNEG, the Oscar winning studio, and the film is produced by Prime Focus Studios, Namit Malhotra and Monster Mind Creations. That pedigree shows. Veteran film reviewer and analyst Taran Adarsh gave the film five stars and said the VFX raises the bar and delivers one of the most breath-taking visual experiences ever seen on the Indian screen. Shomini Sen of WION said the film works mostly because of its visual effects.

Puja Talwar of The Federal called the effects by and large impressive but said some portions fall short and occasionally look artificial or overly computer generated. She also noted that the visual language at times recalls the maximalist spectacle of ‘Baahubali’ and ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, which is a polite way of saying the film borrows as much as it invents. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll praised Raavan’s ten heads and the fight with the vulture Jatayu, but called the ogres, backdrops, animals and action set pieces derivative and described the whole as a Hollywood style spectacle.

Read together, the verdicts describe a film with a handful of showstopping sequences and a good deal of competent but familiar computer imagery in between. That is a respectable achievement. It is not the same as a clean sweep.

The ‘Adipurush’ shadow

To see why ‘Ramayana’ is being received so warmly, it helps to remember what came before. The ‘Adipurush’ teaser was widely trolled in October 2022, and the makers moved the release from January 2023 to 16 June 2023 to rework the visuals. The reworked film still drew mockery for its effects when it reached theatres, with some viewers calling it a pathetic copy of ‘Avengers’.

Talwar’s review describes ‘Adipurush’ as a travesty that should never have been made. Sen writes that the new film does not go the ‘Adipurush’ way. Set against that memory, ‘Ramayana’ needs only to look serious, scaled and respectful to feel like a relief. The bar was lowered by a predecessor, and the new film clears it comfortably.

Why the clunky moments get a pass

The deeper reason is the subject itself. The ‘Ramayana’ is not just a story in India. It is bedtime tales from grandparents, the Ramlila in the neighbourhood park, the television serial that emptied streets and a text that shapes how many families explain duty, loyalty and loss. A viewer arriving with that history is not hunting for compositing errors. The emotion of a Jatayu moment or a Ravana entrance lands first, and scrutiny, if it comes at all, arrives later.

The trailer response hinted at this. When the 4 minute 9 second trailer appeared on 30 July 2026, reaction was divided, with some viewers calling the effects clean and believable and others using words such as cartoonish. One viewer quoted by india.com said there was too much graphics but that it did not look cheap at all. That sentence captures the pattern neatly, a criticism and a vote of confidence delivered in the same breath.

The same dynamic appears in the reviews. Even those who flag artificial looking passages or borrowed designs end by calling the film grand, ambitious or an experience worth having. Faults are noted and then outweighed by scale and sincerity.

A very large bet

The money behind the film explains the pressure. Reported budget figures vary widely, from around Rs 1,500 crore including marketing to Rs 4,000 crore, and the makers have not settled the difference publicly. Part 2 is slated for Diwali 2027, so the first film has to carry audiences with it.

Early signs suggest it will. The advance bookings were large, and a reported Rs 64.85 crore net opening is the kind of number that buys patience for the sequel.

What it means for the next epic

The lesson for filmmakers is that devotion buys goodwill, but only for those who earn it. ‘Adipurush’ proved that reverence does not shield a film from anger when its visuals feel careless. ‘Ramayana’ shows the opposite side, that a film which treats the epic with visible effort and scale will find audiences willing to overlook the odd artificial shot.

For publicists and marketers, the takeaway is practical. Audiences forgive imperfection when they trust the intent. They rarely forgive indifference.