The Great Ganesha

Was browsing around YouTube this morning and I came across a bunch of animated Ramayana clips. Here’s one on Hanuman (in Hindi), since I’ve blogged about him before, though in another context.

They’re made to be in the style of Japanese Anime and I was intrigued, so I did a little bit of research (well ok, I just Googled ‘ramayana anime‘) and found that they were made in Japan in collaboration with India, in the early 90′s.

Directed by Yugo Sako and Krishna Shah, this adaptation of the legend combines the techniques of the Japanese school of animation called Manga, and those of Indian classical painting which have been updated by Ram Mohan, the father of Indian animation. [link]

They’ve definitely got a fair amount of action and entertainment. And several of the battles I saw involved at least one sword. This should explain that:

Rama and Lakshmana look rather like Samurai warriors, and the action sequences are graced by swordfights based on the Japanese kenjutsu tradition, but the characters deliver their speeches in a style reminiscent of the acting tradition in Indian folk theater, though with a certain Manga twist. [link]

Turns out the feature is called Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama and the Hindi version is voiced by (among others) Om Puri and Amrish Puri. They weren’t credited on the IMDb page, but I recognized their voices. Additionally, James Earl Jones does the narration in the English version – he’s credited on there. Here’s another clip (also in Hindi, but with subtitles) that has some more action than the previous one:

There are some more clips available to watch, uploaded by user ‘manofsan‘. And the DVD can be bought on Amazon, if you’re interested. Although some of the subtleties and intricacies from the original stories are lost in the making of the cartoon, it makes for some fun viewing for kids, and the kid inside you.

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