He has played everything from a rebellious musician to a deaf-mute man and a force of nature out for vengeance. But playing the maryada purushottam Lord Rama may just be Ranbir Kapoor’s biggest challenge so far. The actor stars in Nitesh Tiwari’s upcoming Ramayana adaptation as the deity revered by billions of Hindus around the world. In a recent interaction, Ranbir opened up about his preparation for the role.
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The Ramayana team’s appearance at the San Diego Comic Con was set to culminate with the global launch of its trailer on Friday morning. However, hours before the scheduled trailer release at 8 AM, it was postponed. Producer Namit Malhotra wrote on social media, “Today is a very special moment for our “Ramayana”, my dream of taking ramayana to the world is now a reality with our partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment. In light of the above we will be launching our trailer now globally at a later date. “In over 100 years of indian cinema this will become a moment of great pride where Ramayana will be shown to the entire world like any major global Hollywood film. This is special as it opens the door for people of the world to discover the richness of our culture and our stories with renewed pride and enthusiasm.”
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana is a two-part epic with the first part releasing in theatres this November. Apart from Ranbir Kapoor, the film also stars Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana, along with Ravie Dubey, Sunny Deol, Rakul Preet Singh, Lara Dutta, Arun Govil, Vivek Oberoi, Kunal Kapoor, and a large ensemble cast. Ramayana Part One will release in theatres in November.
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On Thursday, Ranbir joined co-star Yash, Ramayana director Tiwari and producer Namit Malhotra at the San Diego Comic Con for a panel discussion on the film. On the sidelines of the discussion, Ranbir spoke to Fanversation about how he prepared to play Lord Rama. When asked about his physical transformation for the role, the actor said, “I always feel that kind of preparation, making a body or action and dance, is kind of easy because that is a bit superficial. But to really understand the philosophy of Lord Rama deeply at this age and this point in my life was really important to embody this character. You want to give it your best and be simple and not complicated. You want to be someone with whom someone age to age 80 can relate. Understanding the teachings of Lord Rama was more important than the superficial transformation.”
Elaborating on how he went about understanding the psychology of Lord Rama, Ranbir added, “I read a lot, met with a lot of scholars. I practised yoga for two years. I had a guru called Suvir who used to sit and meditate with me for hours to get me really close to the teachings of Lord Rama. It’s really understanding the text because we have that. There are so many versions and iterations.”
