- Mukesh Khanna criticized Ramayana for action scenes and excessive special effects use
- He said Lord Rama was portrayed as an action star, losing his traditional dignity
- Ramayana's budget is around Rs 4,000 crore, making it one of the largest films
Days after the Ramayana trailer was released in India, senior actor Mukesh Khanna lashed out at the new-age treatment of the depiction of action scenes and excessive use of special effects in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana.
During a recent chat, Mukesh Khanna said that Nitesh Tiwari and the team had made Lord Rama a man of action, a familiar action superstar, stripping him of his 'Maryada Purushottam' dignity. He had also said that special effects don't turn the film into a spectacle, as Rama has sentimental value in the Indian tradition.
'Sri Ram ko dhanurdhar bana diya hai. Sri Ram dhanurdhar the. Bhagwan ka roop hai, avatar hai. Krishna bhi Bhagwan ke avatar the. Par jis tarah ke fight sequence dikhaye hain, ki Sri Ram ped ke upar uth ke teer nahi marte, kabhi dekha nahi. Itni Ramayan padhi hai. Ramleela dekhi hai. Sri Ram ko Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, bana diya, Rajinikanth bana diya. Ram Maryada Purushottam hain. Smile karte the,' (Ram was a warrior, an expert at shooting arrows. But he never climbed up trees to shoot arrows. I have read the Ramayana, seen Ramleela, but haven't seen this before. They have made Lord Rama into Salman Khan, Rajinikanth and Amitabh Bachchan)," said Mukesh Khanna to Bollywood Now.
"Ramji aise fight nahi karte the. Ramji ko man of action bana diya, Clint Eastwood bana diya," added Mukesh Khanna.
He had also questioned the heavy use of special effects.
"I have heard they have planned a global release. Bahar ke logon ka farq nahi padta Ram ki image se. Woh ise Star Wars se compare karenge. Par India mein aap agar Ram dikha rahe ho, toh aastha se dikhao," (People abroad don't have an image of Rama. But if you bring Rama to the Indian audience, there has to be respect and dignity)," said Mukesh Khanna.
Budget
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."
Apart from Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Ravi Dubey and Yash play pivotal roles in the film.
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.