Animation in India is still in its formative years - we are still grappling with how to make them, confused about the target audience, and how to compete with feature movies.

But optimistically, things would change for the better with Ketan Mehta's animation movie Ramayana, which has been timed for Dashehra.

One expects a top notch animation film from Mehta, mainly because his studio [Maya] is a front-runner in the animation industry. The expectations only double since Mehta and director Chetan Desai choose Ramayana as their subject.

Ramayana works for two reasons. One, the story keeps you hooked and two, the quality of the animation is superb. It's difficult to encompass this great epic in a two-hour film, but the makers convey all they ought to express most effectively.

A number of sequences from the Ramayana have evoked value.

The vivacious use of colours coupled with a fast-paced narrative makes this animation film the best we've seen so far. In addition to that, special attention has been paid to the lighting and costumes.

Also, the animated characters come alive with voices given by Manoj Bajpayee [Lord Rama], Juhi Chawla [Goddess Sita], Ashutosh Rana [Raavan] and Mukesh Rishi [Lord Hanuman].

The only problem that I see is the usage of pure Hindi at several points, which makes it difficult to understand.

Also, a few incidents/occurrences from the epic are briefly mentioned, which may seem right since the makers didn't want to exceed the desired length of the movie, but when you decide to make a movie on the Ramayana, you can't mention the very important incidents rapidly.

Overall, Ramayana is a must-watch film.