When the first glimpse of Ramayana was given to Hanuman Jayanti, it immediately grabbed attention, with Ranbir Kapoor’s look as Lord Ram becoming one of the most talked about reveals. But the actor has now admitted that his first instinct was to turn down the role, recalling: “Out of fear, I said no… I’m not fit enough.” Ranbir revealed that when producer Namit Malhotra first approached him, there wasn’t even a script narration – just a direct question.
When the first glimpse of Ramayana was given to Hanuman Jayanti, it immediately grabbed attention, with Ranbir Kapoor’s look as Lord Ram becoming one of the most talked about reveals. But the actor has now admitted that his first instinct was to turn down the role, recalling: “Out of fear, I said no.
..I’m not fit enough.
“My gut reaction was no.”
In a recent conversation with Collider, Ranbir revealed that when producer Namit Malhotra first approached him, there wasn’t even a script narration — just a direct question.
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When Ranbir Kapoor almost walked away from Ramayana – the turning point explained
“When Namit offered me this role, he didn’t narrate the script to me. He just said: ‘Listen, I’m making this film.’ How do you feel about playing Lord Ram?’ And out of fear, my gut reaction was: ‘No, I can’t do it.’ He said, ‘I’m not fit enough for it.’”
“I still have to pinch myself.”
Ranbir shared that his perspective changed once he understood the vision behind the film and heard the narration from director Nitesh Tiwari.“Over a period of time, Namit took me through his vision… Then, when I met Nitish sir and he narrated the story to me, I could not thank my stars that I was at the right place at the right time,” he said.“I still have to pinch myself to understand that I am playing Lord Ram, and this is something that will probably be a big turning point in my life and career.”
“A year before filming, I felt nervous.”
Opening up about the emotional journey, the actor admitted that fear and nervousness stayed with him long before filming began.“If I could go back to the year before filming, that’s when I felt nervous, when there was a lot of fear,” he said.However, this fear eventually turned into gratitude. “By the time it was a month before the shoot, I felt so much gratitude to get this opportunity. It was a blessing from Lord Ram that I could play this – no one else could play him, but actually give myself over to this character.”
“I was stalking the director to find out more.”
Ranbir also revealed how much he immersed himself in preparation near the shoot.“A month ago, I was hounding the director, Nitesh Tiwari, to try to get into as much detail as I could about the story, about Ram’s journey,” he said. “Because there’s no boundaries, right? There’s not just a set ‘this is it.'”“I think you have to really surrender to the role, make some sacrifices in your life, make certain changes… A month before filming, I was right there.”The ambitious two-parter stars Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman and Sunny Deol as Hanuman.With anticipation already high, Ramayana: Part 1 is all set to release on the big Diwali this year.