My job was to be worthy of faith people placed in me: Ranbir on playing Lord Rama in 'Ramayana'

NEW DELHI: Actor Ranbir Kapoor says playing Lord Rama in the upcoming mythological film "Ramayana" was not just a role but a responsibility as he had to remind himself every day to live up to the faith people have placed in him.

The film's makers have released a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube where Ranbir as well as director Nitesh Tiwari, co-stars Arun Govil and Sai Pallavi spoke about his transformation into Lord Ram.

"This isn't a role, or merely an exciting role in a movie. This is a responsibility... So every day, I reminded myself that my job was not to be worthy of this role. My job was to be worthy of the faith that people placed in this role," Ranbir said in the 5-minute video.

"But I think everything just comes down to the simplicity and belief of the individual playing Lord Rama," he added.

Produced by Namit Malhotra's DNEG and Prime Focus Studios, "Ramayana" has been mounted as an ambitious global-scale adaptation of the mythological epic.

The first part is scheduled for worldwide theatrical release on November 6, during Diwali, with the second instalment planned for 2027.

Besides Ranbir, the movie features Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Sunny Deol as Hanuman and Ravi Dubey as Lakshman.

Arun Govil, who famously played Ram in Ramanand Sagar's television series "Ramayan", plays King Dasharatha in the new film.

Arun said "Ramayana" has no single definition as it is "our dignity, honour, pride, culture, and heritage."

"Everything for us here is the Ramayana," he added.

Praising Ranbir, the veteran actor-politician said he has many qualities required to play the role.

"Normally, you wouldn't expect a superstar to come and touch your feet. But he always does it. Among the current generation of young stars, Ranbir is the closest fit to play Lord Rama," he said.

Nitesh said casting for Lord Rama role was not an easy task.

"Ramayana is the oldest epic known to mankind. And that's what we believe in India that even if you can imbibe one percent of the values which Lord Rama had, you will be a great person. Now imagine what kind of person he was. And that's why casting Lord Rama was almost next to impossible. All we could do was try.

"When Namit discussed Ranbir with me, I felt like it was all possible with Ranbir. He ticked all the boxes," he said.

Sai recalled how she imagined the image of Lord Rama from her childhood.

“He is a very slender Rama and his head is a little tilted… and there's a bow this way. There's a small and petite Sita. That is the image I remember from my childhood. Now suddenly I could see that Rama that I saw in my childhood and I was awestruck," she added.

For Ranbir, one of the exciting aspects of making the movie was to see how "Namit got the best of the East and the best of the West to come together with a single belief of the telling of the Ramayana."

"Talents like Terry Notary who's worked on such great movies. I had the good fortune of training under him for body language, for movement. But just the process was so exciting, the expertise that he was bringing to us because I saw it in Terry Notary's intention that he believed in the Ramayana, he believed in the story.

"We had the amazing legend, Guy Norris, who I had the good fortune of doing two action set pieces... But him being so interested in the emotionality of Lord Rama was such a pleasant surprise," he said.

"Ramayana" has a screenplay by Shridhar Raghavan, with Tiwari also credited on the screenplay.

The production is also backed by Yash's Monster Mind Creations, with Dharma Productions handling distribution across North India's Hindi-speaking markets and Sony Pictures releasing the film internationally.