Anyone remember Indo-Japanese Film Ramayana ?

It was a 1992 film which never released in theatres despite the incredible effort put in by Japanese filmmaker Yugo Sako, in collaboration with Ram Mohan. There were three versions in total: two English and one Hindi. Over 450 artists worked on this film in Japan since there was no support from India.

Yugo Sako researched every detail and met up historians, archeologists, scholars and read TEN versions of the epic in Japanese in order to understand it better.

This was the version the 90s kids had watched on Pogo and Cartoon Network, esp during Diwali. It was wonderfully made and had true emotions.

Unfortunately, the government at the time refused to make it a bi-nation collaboration, saying that Ramayana was a sensitive topic and cannot be portrayed as a cartoon (it is actually anime, a form of storytelling from Japan!).

Sadly, Yugo Sako never got the credit and commemoration for his fabulous work. Yet his story lives on. #Respect.

Yes ofcourse it's a beautiful movie. And it had lovely songs. I liked the song "Panchavati mann bhavan"...❤️ I had heard that Yugo saki was planning to make anime on shree Krishna also but he passed away. I personally love japanese anime.

It used to air in Cartoon Network

Ask ME about it. I love this movie!!

I still watch parts of it from time to time on YouTube.

The songs of the movie are so nice.. someone mentioned "Panchvati man Bhavan upavan", I also loved the Hanuman song and the song played when ram sita and lakshman are exiled to the woods.

My only complaint is that they made Ram so fair when in actual scriptures he was supposed to be dark skinned.🤔

Originally posted by: Ranjali

Yes ofcourse it's a beautiful movie. And it had lovely songs. I liked the song "Panchavati mann bhavan"...❤️ I had heard that Yugo saki was planning to make anime on shree Krishna also but he passed away. I personally love japanese anime.

I watched it last night and cried, it was so nostalgic.

My favourite songs have to be 'Janani main Ram doot Hanuman' and 'Shri Raghuvar ki Vanar Sena'. Kudos to the late Vanraj Bhatia ji. 👏

Yes Yugo Sako was planning on making Krishna: a celestial cow herd. I am sure it would have been beautiful but that's how karma works, after the way our country treated his genius, we did not deserve another one.

Heres to hoping the Indian govt does help release the film in HD in theatres. Its still very popular in Japan and there have been screenings and seminars regularly.

Here it is, I think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxNqdzRP2yc

Originally posted by: FilmiDhun

Ask ME about it. I love this movie!!

I still watch parts of it from time to time on YouTube.

The songs of the movie are so nice.. someone mentioned "Panchvati man Bhavan upavan", I also loved the Hanuman song and the song played when ram sita and lakshman are exiled to the woods.

My only complaint is that they made Ram so fair when in actual scriptures he was supposed to be dark skinned.🤔

The highlight was that they even did songs in Sanskrit, which was used in the English version. But the highlight for my grandmother was when she heard Arun Govil's voice in the Hindi dub, she used to watch it every time with me 😆

Such is the irony of the situation that while there are sections of Indians who bash Ramayana and Lord Rama, it was the Japanese who understood the concept and morals and tried to spread the story globally. I felt such shame when I found out the govt had done Mr Sako and his entire team so dirty.

I have a feeling there are steps being taken to ensure a proper theatrical release because of the key animators of the film, Megumu Ishiguro did an India tour just before COVID and the film was screened at multiple institutes.

@bold: Was this because it was anime? Coz generally in anime, characters are white with huge coloured eyes and funky coloured hair styles...they could not do anything to the hair but skin and eyes were pretty much based off the traditional anime style. I think it had something to do with the quality too, we saw it in 360p whereas the HD versions (that exist only in Japan apparently or its being restored to HD). Look at the drawings here, they seem lesser white than the film we saw.

https://twitter.com/21Alt555/status/1040810816839200769?s=20

Originally posted by: BhetuPunha

Here it is, I think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxNqdzRP2yc

Yesss ❤️❤️

This movie proves "Ram toh sabke hai" ❤️

I love this movie. Evergreen. They used to air this during Diwali holidays on CN always. They did an amazing job, dubbing was on point too. It captured all scenes so beautifully. Art style with that blend of Japanese and Indian looked so good ❤️

Originally posted by: kpop21

I love this movie. Evergreen. They used to air this during Diwali holidays on CN always. They did an amazing job, dubbing was on point too. It captured all scenes so beautifully. Art style with that blend of Japanese and Indian looked so good ❤️

I still cry every time I listen to the songs and see clips, esp this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0arEtmlphQ

The animations and emotions are so real! And the devotion of each and every member of the making process can be felt through the screen.

It is crazy how the Japanese showcased Ramayana in one of the best ways ever; whereas, in India, certain groups have openly doubted Lord Rama's existence!