One of Hinduism’s most revered deities Lord Ram and his birthplace Ayodhya are on the tip of everyone’s tongue now as the long-disputed Ayodhya Ram Mandir is getting ready for the consecration of the Lord Ram idol. Last year, we saw a failed attempt to recreate the revered epic Ramayana on screen in the form of Adipurush. Telugu star Prabhas had played Lord Ram in the movie which was received poorly for distortion of mythology and misinterpretation of holy characters.
Talking about films that portray Lord Ram, one that needs to be mentioned is the Kannada film Sri Ramanjaneya Yuddha. The film was released in 1963 and was unusual in the fact that it began with the crowning of Lord Ram and Goddess Sita as King and Queen of Ayodhya and tells the story beyond this occurrence, choosing not to depict the much well-known incidents before the coronation ceremony.
The film instead emphasised the bond between Lord Ram and Hanuman and portrayed Lord Hanuman’s undying devotion towards Lord Ram. Dr Rajkumar, who is considered among one of the most influential actors of the country played the role of Lord Ram in the film. Sri Ramanjaneya Yuddha was his 50th film as an actor. It was revealed in the title card during the screening of the film. Udaykumar played the role of Lord Hanuman in the film.
The movie had two directors, which was unusual in that era. M Nageshwara Rao and M S Nayak jointly directed Sri Ramanjaneya Yuddha, which received unanimous praise from the audience and critics.
The movie was remade in Telugu language in 1975 as Sri Ramanjaneya Yuddham. It starred NT Rama Rao as Lord Ram. NTR was known to have portrayed mythological characters like Lord Ram, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva in many films throughout his career. B. Saroja Devi who has appeared in all South Indian language films and also a few Hindi films was cast as Goddess Sita in the Telugu remake.
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