- Arun Govil praised Ranbir Kapoor as the closest to play Lord Rama in Ramayana
- Ramayana makers released a BTS video featuring cast and crew on Ranbir's 44th birthday
- Ramayana's budget is around Rs 4,000 crore, making it one of the most expensive Indian films
Arun Govil, who plays King Dasharatha in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana, certified Ranbir Kapoor as the ‘closest' to play Lord Rama in the film. On the occasion of Ranbir Kapoor's 44th birthday, the Ramayana makers unveiled a BTS video featuring the lead cast, director and producer. In that video, Arun Govil said why he thinks Ranbir is the ‘closest' to play the character.
Talking about Ranbir Kapoor playing Lord Rama, Arun said, ‘Jo main sochta tha ki Ram aise chalte honge, aise baithte honge, aise dekhte honge, baat karte honge, toh yeh cheezein hain unmein (What I had imagined—that Ram would walk like this, sit like this, look like this and speak like this—I can see all those qualities in him). Normally you don't expect that a star would come and touch your feet, but he always does that.'
He added, ‘Among all the young stars who are available at the moment, Ranbir Kapoor is the closest to play Lord Rama.'
Sai Pallavi said in the video that she was ‘awestruck', discovering an uncanny similarity between her Rama image and Ranbir Kapoor. Ravi Dubey, who plays Lakshmana in the film, said he found the innocence characteristic of Lord Rama, in Ranbir.
Since the casting of Ramayana was revealed, Ranbir Kapoor has faced huge criticism for being cast as Lord Rama. A section of the Internet attacked his past film choices, while the other section slammed him for his food habits.
Ramayana has been made on a staggering budget of Rs 4,000 crore.
Speaking to Prakhar Gupta, producer Namit Malhotra revealed, ‘When we set out to make this six or seven years ago, people thought I was a lunatic because no Indian film comes close to this scale. Put simply, the budget will be around $500 million for both parts combined, which is over Rs 4,000 crore.'
He added, ‘We're making the largest film in the world for the greatest epic that deserves to be seen globally. And yet, I believe we're doing it more efficiently than some of the biggest Hollywood films. We're not being irresponsible—we're being ambitious, but grounded.'
The film is set to be released in two parts, with the first instalment scheduled to release worldwide in October 2026 ahead of Diwali, while the second part is slated for Diwali 2027.