Box office Ram Setu opened in theaters to expectations from trade analysts of having a good opening at the box office given the release during the holiday season surrounding Diwali. The film competed with the
Ajay Devgn-starred
Thank God, which was released on the same day, and managed to gain higher share of the box office collections. During its earlier run, the film, which was released a day after Diwali, took advantage of the festive-season holidays; however the collections fell short of expectations of analysts. The film collected crore at the domestic box office on its opening day and crore on its second day. The film has grossed crore domestic and crore overseas taking the worldwide collection of crore as of 24 November.
Anna M. M. Vetticad of
Firstpost called the movie a
Hindutva project, noting that the director unapologetically obscured the difference between fact and fiction by having "no credible progression in the script" in Kumar's character's turn from a proud atheist into
social media propagandist. She criticized the "limp storytelling", the amateur and "blatantly wannabe-
Bahubaali" visual effects, and the performance of the cast, but praised that of Satyadev's. Vetticad also wrote that it was "surprisingly flat for a film dealing with potentially explosive material".
Namrata Joshi reviewing for
Screen International wrote that the plot lacks imagination and originality, and the action scenes without thrill. She opined that the film portrayed
Hindu supremacy, rather hidden across the narrative, and Hindu victimhood in parallel. She concluded that
Ram Setu is yet another propaganda film in the right-wing
Bollywood in which Akshay Kumar acts as the flag bearer, and the film turned out unimpressive. Subhash K. Jha wrote in
Firstpost that the film depends on Hindutva ideology and later forces itself into mythology. He opined that the film has been part of a larger efforts by the
left-wing of mocking and diminishing any film that has a pro-Hindutva core and noted that the understanding of the film as a "pro-establishment propaganda" is baseless. He found the performance of the entire cast, except that of Satyadev's, to be dull. He also noted that the film could have focused on the debate of
faith vs blind faith rather indulged in
Indiana Jones-like adventure.
Saibal Chatterjee reviewing for
NDTV rated 1/5 and wrote that the film presents theories about Indian history that do not concur with scientific and scholarly studies blurring the lines between history, mythology and fantasy. He wrote that the film is "[p]oorly written, shoddily mounted and badly acted" posing a clueless crew with primitive visual effects ultimately presenting a message to chastize non-believers of Rama. Tina Das reviewing for
ThePrint rated 2.5/5 and wrote that the film tries to convince the audience that
Hinduism, and religion in general, redeems them. She wrote about Kumar's performance as unconvincing despite trying to imitate the protagonists of
Indiana Jones and
National Treasure; she wrote that the film incorporated Hindutva ideology along with history and myth and criticized visual effects and
CGI animation to be faulty. She opined that if one manages to ignore these nuances, the film would be thrilling. Nandini Ramnath in
Scroll.in criticised
Ram Setu describing it as "
WhatsApp forwards with visual effects". She wrote, "[t]here is no scope for logic or even basic common sense in a narrative that insists that religious belief must be placed above secular knowledge." She also found the plot and the performance of the cast to be lacking. Abhimanyu Mathur reviewing for
Hindustan Times found the film to be fun and thrilling. He wrote that the underwater filming reminds one of
The Blue Planet, a nature documentary by
BBC. He noted that the purpose of the entire cast seemed to only accompany Kumar's character without engaging in the plot, however he praised Pravesh Rana and Satya Dev. He opined that the film gave Kumar an opportunity to perform differently compared to his recent films which attracted criticism as "public service announcements disguised as motion pictures". He found the background score to be the best in Hindi films this year, but found visual effects and computer graphics questionable. He opined that when one manages to ignore the melodrama, the film would be fun. Nairita Mukherjee of
India Today rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "
Ram Setu feels highly underwhelming. It has little or no cinematic appeal. In the end, it is neither funny nor serious". Sanchita Jhunjhunwala of
Zoom, rating the film 3 stars, said "The film is based on a premise that is interesting, but feels like a drag every now and then while also seeming too ambitious."
Bollywood Hungama rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and praised its premise to be interesting and climax to be well executed but criticised the plot and
VFX. Devesh Sharma of
Filmfare rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "The film revolves around Akshay Kumar. He has tried his best to be a geeky academic and has vastly underplayed his part". Pratikshya Mishra of
The Quint rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "
Ram Setu disappoints primarily because of how shoddy the script and its treatment is". Himesh Mankad of
Pinkvilla rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "
Ram Setu isn't a bad film, but it's not good either – It lies somewhere in between. The subject will have some takers, but we wish, the director had gone wider with his vision by integrating opposition from the natural forces too, and not just stick to the human evils". Renuka Vyavahare of
The Times of India rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Barring a few decent chase sequences,
Ram Setu has no spark and is way too preachy". Nishad Thaivalappil of
News 18 rated the film 0.5 out of 5 stars and criticised the film writing that the film has a poor plot-line, VFX and storytelling.
Audience reception The
word of mouth publicity among the audience did not fare well and led to a lower footfall, causing lower box office collections.
Reactions Indian politician
Subramanian Swamy stated in August 2022 that he had "through Satya Sabharwal Adv issued Legal Notice to Cine Actor Akshay Kumar (Bhatia) and his 8 others for distorting Ram Setu saga."
Narottam Mishra, Home Minister of
Madhya Pradesh, praised the movie stating that the film would reveal the truth about the Ram Setu bridge and said that it was man-made and built during the period of Ramayana. == See also ==