It’s the season of Ramayana and discussions are about who the ideal cast for the role of Lord Ram would be? Sources close to the film said that apparently a meeting was held last month, with Ranbir Kapoor for the role. However, talks are also on with Telugu star Mahesh Babu. We hear he’s not yet refused the project.
“The film has to be made for a pan-India audience now, keeping in mind the audiences as well as the distributors,” explains a source close to the development of the film. “That’s why Telugu star Mahesh Babu was approached for the role — for that pan-India audience connection. For the moment though Mahesh Babu’s preparations for his next film, an SS Rajamouli film, are almost ready. So he’s first raring to go on the floors for that film.
The makers have also met Ranbir Kapoor a few times, including once in December last year. But then the general consensus is to have actors from both the Telugu and the Hindi industries so that the film reaches out to a larger audience as Mahesh Babu’s fan base in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will come in very handy to make the film larger than life across the Vindhyas. So the makers have to take a call on which of the two actors they want to go with after considering their dates.”
Meanwhile, Hrithik Roshan, a dear friend of Mantena, has agreed to play the role of Raavan in this film. Interestingly, Hrithik is also expected to compare notes with actor Saif Ali Khan when they come together for Vikram Vedha. Saif is also playing the character of Lankesh, based on the character of Raavan, in the film Adipurush with Prabhas. Hrithik also plays a grey shade character in the film Vikram Vedha. Ramayana will take his negative characterisation one notch up.
While there was some doubt about all those directing the project, sources have confirmed that there’s just one director — Nitesh Tiwari — who had made films like Dangal (2016) and Chhichhore (2019). Ravi Udyawar, director of Mom (2017), will only collaborate on a creative level on the project’s script.
