Ramayana, Nitesh Tiwari’s magnum opus starring Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi as Lord Rama and Sita, respectively, has been generating considerable buzz since its announcement. Touted as the most expensive Indian film ever made, with an over Rs 4000 crore budget, the two-part movie, produced by Namit Malhotra, has been making news for its grand scale, VFX, and also controversies over casting.
A section of social media has expressed its disdain over the casting of Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama. His old clip where he has talked about his love for eating beef has enraged many who questioned the actor’s suitability for the role.
Ramayana producer Namit Malhotra, during, his visit to Isha Foundation, sat down for a chat with spiritual leader Sadhguru, talking about Ramayana’s relevance, massive expectations from mythological films and characters, apart from other things.
‘Unfair to expect actors should be like Lord Rama’
Sadhguru said while playing Lord Rama is an opportunity for transformation, at the same time there shouldn’t be unfair expectations from the actor playing him.
“Acting like Rama brings some elements of Rama into the actor, which will be wonderful for him. But it’s an unfair expectation,” he said, defending actors including Ranbir Kapoor, who portray Lord Rama on screen.
The spiritual leader agreed that people have expectations from actors who play Rama as they visualise them as the deity, but at the same time for actors, it could be unfair as they are just acting.
“If you act like Rama in a movie, then I expect at least you have some gentleness,” he said, adding, “it’s unfair for an actor because for them it’s a profession, he’s just acting.
‘An opportunity to transform’
Sadhguru advised actors to look at it as an opportunity to transform themselves. “If they have sensed, they should become, it’s an opportunity that you get to play the role of Rama, you better transform yourself. If you don’t do that when will you do it in your life. So, at the same time, there will be a certain unrealistic expectation,” he says.
Sadhguru supports Ramayana casting
Malhotra asked Sadhuguru what one should do if people go back 20-30 years back and pull out instances, “because of that, how could you do that,” referring to the internet backlash Ranbir Kapoor is currently facing over his casting as Lord Rama.
Sadhguru defended the casting saying an actor may play both Rama and Ravana as their profession demands it. However, he advised that people’s expectations must also be not completely brushed aside. At the same time, he reiterated that it’s an unfair expectation.
“It is not a fair judgment of an actor because he acted in some way. He acted in a certain role of let’s say, being Rama, you expect him to become fully Rama. No, tomorrow in another movie, he may act as Ravana. Some other production may choose him as Ravana. So that’s a professional actor. But at the same time, your movie runs because of people, not because of actors. Let’s get this right. Not because of actors or directors, the movie runs. It’s because of the people, the movie runs. So their expectations cannot be completely brushed aside. It’s a very onerous expectation, but the actor and the director and everybody making Ramayana should imbibe a little bit of Rama’s quality. It will be good for them.. But I’ll repeat once again that it’s an unfair expectation, but that’s the way world is,” he said.
‘People thought NT Rama Rao was Krishna’
During the interview at one point, Sadhguru, explained why people expect, citing NT Rama Rao’s example.
“Well, I think, you know earlier on, there was NT Rama Rao in the Telugu industry. People worshipped him as Krishna because he starred in some 15 or 16 movies as Krishna. Everybody thought he’s Krishna and they just put up this huge cutouts of him playing the flute like this and standing and he won the election outright, swept the election, so at one time it was absolutely so, but now I don’t think it is so, but to some extent it’s still there,” he said.