Dulquer Salmaan And Mrunal Thakur’s Beleagured Romance

Runtime:
157
mins

A
period
romantic
drama
set
amidst
India-Pakistan
strife,

Sita
Ramam
loses
appeal
as
it
tries
for
greater
complexity.
It’s
1964,
POK
terrorist
camp
is
putting
the
finishing
touches
on
Operation
Gibraltar
involving
the
Mujahideen
crossing
into
Kashmir.
A
young
Indian
lieutenant
who
falls
in
love
with
a
Hyderabadi
Muslim
Princess
(later
on,
his
wife),
is
tasked
with
destroying
the
Pakistani
camp
–
but
he
gets
caught
and
tortured
while
his
wife
goes
from
Pillar
to
post
to
rescue
him.

Ram
(Dulquer
Salmaan),
an
orphan
soldier,
doesn’t
have
much
to
call
his
own
but
he
falls
like
a
ton
of
bricks
when
a
lady
sends
him
a
letter.
On
one
of
his
sojourns
back
from
the
army,
he
meets
up
with
the
woman,
and
love
blossoms.
The
disparity
between
their
class,
caste
and
religion
is
not
evident
but
of
course
there
are
outside
influences
to
play
villains.
Nevertheless,
the
twosome
overcome
their
conditioning
issues,
get
married
and
start
a
life
together.
But
now
it’s
the
Indian
army’s
turn
to
put
up
impediments
in
the
way
of
their
everlasting
love.

The
set-up
is
just
so
unbelievable
that
it’s
a
little
too
hard
to
swallow.
In
a
day
and
age
where
people
look
for
security
in
marriage,
here’s
a
movie
heralding
someone
leaving
her
riches
behind
to
play
wife
to
an
army
lieutenant
whose
life
is
always
in
jeopardy
–
even
if
the
setting
is
way
back
in
the
1960’s.

Hanu
Raghavapudi’s
Telugu
version
of

Sita
Ramam
was
released
a
couple
of
weeks
ago
and
did
not
set
the
Box-office
on
fire.
Since
this
was
a
multi-lingual
production,
the
director
probably
thought
it
judicious
to
release
it
in
Hindi
also.
But
the
lack
of
fanfare
and
the
tedium
of
an
ambitious
though
impediment
heavy
craft
spoils
the
effect.
The
narrative
takes
us
back
and
forth
through
two
paralleled
timelines
and
plotlines
and
by
the
time
we
begin
to
make
sense
of
it
and
understand
the
connections
the
interest
is
lost
completely.
To
add
to
that,
the
runtime
is
way
too
long
even
for
a
star-crossed
romance.

Sita
Ramam
has
the
gloss
of
mainstream
Bollywood
content,
some
heavy-duty
emotion
charged
histrionics
a
la
Mani
Ratnam’s

Roja,
and
cinematography
that
looks
wow.
The
music
is
melodious
but
the
Hindi
lyrics
don’t
cut
ice.
There’s
quite
a
few
sequences
promoting
the
illogical
romance
between
the
central
characters
but
despite
the
poignancy
it
fails
to
generate
affect.
The
intrigue
involves
some
shadow
play
plotting
regarding
the
Indian
army’s
insurgency
operations
in
Kashmir.
The
narrative
spends
too
much
time
setting
up
the
love
story
amidst
strife
and
loses
the
romance
of
it
completely.

To
add
to
the
miseries,
the
casting
is
inappropriate
–
especially
Mrunal
Thakur
(
though
a
wonderful
and
competent
actress
)
who
doesn’t
fit
the
character
of
Hyderabadi
royalty,
a
princess
betrothed
to
an
Omani
Prince,
but
instead,
falls
in
love
with
an
army
officer.
In
fact
too
much
detailing
makes
the
viewing
tedious
and
unromantic.
The
intermingling
of
timelines
also
makes
it
a
less
than
lucid,
near
incoherent
experience.
Dulquer’s
earnestness
comes
through
well
and
the
supporting
cast
also
make
a
fair
mark
but
it’s
still
not
enough
to
save

Sita
Ramam
from
engendering
a
lukewarm
response
from
the
paying
audience.