The litmus test for how I felt about Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Part 1 was its action sequences, or more accurately, how I kept nodding off during them. Sure, one could argue that a 6.30 am show and a mild coffee might be partially responsible. Tiwari has never made anything in the realm of a visual spectacle to be hailed for his imagination (not counting Dangal, which had a few nifty wrestling sequences).And yet, I was surprised by how non-discernible the fights felt. I get it, working with green-screen, VFX, stars, and such a large canvas can be daunting – but I couldn’t ignore how dull it all felt – like pixels at war with themselves. Maybe it was also my familiarity with the source material here, which has been an inspiration for so many mainstream family dramas.There were times I kept hallucinating about Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Saath Saath Hai (1998), and Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). Both, in my opinion, better films than Tiwari’s film here – because, at the very least, they weren’t bogged down like this one.The poster of Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Part 1, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash.Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Part 1 has been in the news since it was announced, as India’s most expensive film. Producer Namit Malhotra, putting together an intriguing cast and crew (including A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer to score the film), has estimated the budget of the two-part epic to be near-about Rs 4,000 crore.It’s this figure that has been the be-all, end-all marketing the film needed. Positioned as India’s blockbuster export (much like S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR) for the world, the film carries the weight of giving Valmiki’s source material the fantasy epic treatment (along the lines of The Lord of the Rings films).However, Tiwari’s film also has its eyes firmly on India’s devout audiences. Especially how they tag-line it as “Our truth. Our history” – which feels like it’s almost trying too hard. Such audiences can take offence to the slightest irreverence (there’s been chatter about how a Rahman song is culturally “inaccurate”). In my opinion, it’s a losing battle, pandering to the culturally conservative. Also, it makes for inherently stuffy and formal art.After a promising start, where Tiwari’s film appears to hint at an origin story for the antagonist Ravan (Yash), the film descends into a low-risk, derivative soap opera. Yash (credited as a co-producer), after starring in the ambitious misfire Toxic: Fairytale for Grown-ups a few months ago, appears to have something more talented stars don’t: ideas.His overwhelming physicality doesn’t allow him to be more than an earnest, stodgy anti-hero. However, in a narrative as comprehensively dunked-in-formaldehyde (possibly to preserve our rich past), Ravan gets the best scene – where he’s making up his mind about going to war with Ram. Choosing between pride, arrogance, fear, wisdom, Ravan’s ten alter-egos surface for the first time. Once again, Yash confirms that he does some of his best work when he’s acting with himself.Also read: Finding Sita’s Voice in Two Medieval Assamese RamayanasDuring the early scenes, I wondered if Tiwari would make Ravan’s cause “righteous”. Mani Ratnam tried it in his 2010 film, where he casts Ravan (Abhishek Bachchan) as a tribal insurgent, who is given a moral imperative to kidnap Sita’s equivalent (played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan).Tiwari and Sridhar Raghavan’s screenplay teases us, however – there’s a particular line that condenses the gaze of the film, when in a battle between devas (Gods) and asurs (Demons), it terms the latter’s defeat as a humiliation. None of the caste discourse, around asurs being folks belonging to society’s oppressed class and therefore never being among the “chosen ones”, makes it into Tiwari’s film – who morphs Ravan into a dutiful son, just king, protective brother, but an evil man all the same.As Ram, this might be among Ranbir Kapoor’s most unconvincing performances. Playing the ultimate Hindi film male protagonist, the template for so many ‘heroes’ – Ram is the one everyone gapes at, and talks about in third person, as if he’s not there. Among the best actors of his generation, it should be a crime to straitjacket Kapoor in such a character, where he can’t take a single dramatic swing.His do-gooder, obedient son routine, reminded me of Salman Khan playing similar roles in Hum Saath Saath Hai and Baghban (2003), and how severely ill-fitted it looked.Ranveer Singh is better at shrinking his presence and moulding his body language, like he did in Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) and Gully Boy (2019). Comparatively, Kapoor, while a reliable actor on most days, only gets a couple of scenes to show off his dramatic chops.Sita (Sai Pallavi) is pleasant and almost a secondary element to the proceedings here, despite the makers making all the right noises about her being strong-minded, having action scenes, but still being the demure, obedient partner.Also read: Ramayana Has Many Poems, Many Versions and Many ColoursNitesh Tiwari’s film is not as tone-deaf or tasteless as Om Raut’s Adipurush (2023), starring Prabhas. However, that doesn’t automatically make it decent. Tiwari’s film, on the other side of the spectrum, is almost too self-conscious for its own good. The result is a film doing the bare minimum (shocking, considering the resources reported to have been spent on it) aimed at retaining its gullible captive audience. No room for brave flourishes here.Like franchise films have been doing for the last decade, Tiwari ends Part One on a ‘cliffhanger’. He teases Sunny Deol’s Hanuman, who will appear in the next film. The people in my screening cheered, like they did for each of the stars – Yash, Ranbir Kapoor. Taking out their phones to make reels, it’s instances like these that make me wonder about when Satyajit Ray called Indian audiences “backward”.No matter how a film turns out, sometimes the audiences seem like they’ve already made their mind up about having a good time. Good for them, I say. Bring on Part Two – and remember it’s our duty to celebrate it! It’s our history, our truth after all.*Ramayana: Part One is playing in theatres.