Voice cast
English
- Nikhil Kapoor - Ram
- Rael Padmasee – Sita
- Uday Mathan – Ravana
- Mishal Varma – Lakshman
- Noel Godin – Hanuman
- Bulbul Mukherjee – Dasharatha
- Madhulika Varma – Kaikeyi
- Rahul Bose _ Bharat
- Pearl Padamsee – Manthara
- Bhargava Krishna – Kumbhakarna
- Shagufta Jaffrey – Surpanakha
- Easo Vivin Mathew – Indrajit
- Denzil Smith – Sugreeva
- Cyrus Broacha – Angada
- Dodo Bhujwala – Additional Voices
- Rohan Arthur – Additional Voices
- Avi Shroff – Additional Voices
- Akash Sharma S - Additional Voices
- Salome Parikh – Additional Voices
- Farid Saboonchi – Additional Voices
- Leeya Mehta – Additional Voices
Hindi Dubbed[edit]
- Shatrughan Sinha – Narrator
- Arun Govil – Rama
- Namrata Sawhney – Sita
- Shakti Singh – Lakshmana
- Adarsh Gautam – Bharata
- Dilip Sinha – Hanuman
- Amrish Puri – Ravana
- Harjeet Walia – Dasharatha
- Sava- Kaikeyi
- Manju Bhatia- Manthara
- Rakesh Vidua- Jatayu
- Umesh Sharma – Jambavan
- Raj Joshi – Sugreeva
- Pradeep Shukla – Kumbhakarna
Production
In 1983, while working on "The Ramayana Relics" a documentary film about excavations by Dr.B.B. LAL near Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh (India) Yugo Sako came to know about the story of Ramayana. He liked the story of the Ramayana so much that he researched deeper into the topic and went on to read 10 versions of the Ramayana in Japanese. After reading the Ramayana he wanted to adapt it into animation as he didn't think a live-action movie could capture the true essence of Ramayana, "Because Ram is God, I felt it was best to depict him in animation, rather than by an actor." TEM Co., Ltd. financed the production and a new production studio Nippon Ramayana Film Co., Ltd. was set up and the principal animation of the film began in 1990 with 450 artists on board. Indian animators guided their Japanese teammates with Indian customs and traditions depicted in the film like how dhotis are worn and how the children receive blessings from their elders.
The indian express published an article about Yugo Sako's "The Ramayana Relics" documentary on April 25, 1983. Soon thereafter, a protest letter based on the misunderstanding from the Vishva hindu parisad was received by the Japanese Embassy in Delhi, which said that no foreigners could arbitrarily cinematize Ramayana because it was the great national heritage of India. After the misconceptions were cleared, Yugo Sako proposed the idea of an animated Ramayana to the VHP and the government. He told them that animation was a serious art form in Japan and it would help bring the Ramayana to a wider global audience. The Government agreed initially, but later declined his proposal for a bi-nation collaboration, saying the Ramayana is a very sensitive subject and cannot be portrayed as a cartoon. Also, the fact that the movie was being made at the height of the Ayodhya dispute, added to the controversy and axed the prospects of producing it in India. With no choice and support left, the movie was ultimately produced in Japan with nearly 450 artists from both nations contributing to its creation.