CHENNAI: Namit Malhotra greets us with a warm smile and doesn’t spare any time before he takes us to the select screening of Ramayana Part 1’s teaser that is due for a release this weekend.
The two-minute 38 second teaser is nothing short of a visual and a music treat along with Ranbir Kapoor’s presence as lord Shri Ram enthrals us within seconds he plays it for us.
“This is something we have been working on for almost a decade with a lot of passion and commitment. This is not going to be just another movie. It will tell the world about who lord Ram is beyond what we have heard of him.
Ramayan is the oldest epic of the world and everyone has a different version to the story. We have made a movie that will resonate and be appreciated by everyone. Once you start liking lord Ram, everything around the film becomes much easier to view and to understand. Ram is the centre of this universe and we had to get his presentation right,” Namit says.
Indian youngsters are hugely inspired by Marvel and DC universes and to convince them and bring them into an Indian mythological universe is not going to be a cakewalk for the makers ahead of the film’s Deepavali release.
“There is a lot of material that is available for references in terms of writing and artwork. There is a lot of R and D work we put in, especially in presenting lord Ram and how he looks.
The same effort went into getting other characters right and making them look convincing for the audience,” Nitesh opens up. “In my own house, my kids know every little detail about Marvel and DC but when I ask them about Ramayana, they know very little. So, this film has been made to make the new gen audience feel interesting. We haven’t copied anything from the west. In fact, it is western films, who have been copying from us,” adds Namit.
Talking about getting the casting, we asked Nitesh if it was walking a tight rope. Sai Pallavi plays Sita, while Yash plays Ravana. Bobby Deol has been cast as lord Hanuman and Ravi Dubey plays Lakshman.
“Yes, it is. We made artists give us several sketches of what they look like and until we got them right, we made them do it again and again. If Ranbir has convinced you as lord Ram, we have succeeded in the attempt,” say Namit and Nitesh. As they say, a bespectacled Ranbir in a denim jacket and a white shirt, walks in and greets us. The teaser showed us a glimpse of how the movie would have been physically demanding. “Indeed, it was.
Every film is physically demanding in its own way and so was Ramayana. But each film throws challenges at you. And as an actor, I need to do my part. I try to give my 100 per cent and perform with conviction,” he remarks. Despite all the overwhelming responses, Nitesh stays calm as he looks around. Despite delivering India’s highest grossing film Dangal and a high-budgeted film like Ramayana, he says, “It is all momentary, I believe. After completing a project and looking at positive responses, I feel happy but I move on to working on my next.”
One cannot end the conversation without talking about musical legends Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman working on the movie. “When we explained Ramayana to Hans Zimmer, he got involved with the story. Hans Zimmer is not from India nor a follower of lord Ram.
But when he understood the emotions behind it, he said, ‘Don’t spoil it for me. I completely understand what goes behind it’ and enhanced the movie for us. While Hans Zimmer’s music provides a global quality, AR Rahman’s nuances have made the film more rooted for us as well as for the audience,” concludes Namit.