Ahead of one of Indian cinema’s most ambitious releases, it’s not the scale of that Ravie Dubey wants to talk about first, it’s the man playing Ram. The actor, who steps into the role of Lakshman in Nitesh Tiwari’s two-part epic, says working alongside Ranbir Kapoor has left a deeper impression on him than almost anything else about the project.
‘The best we have’
Ranbir’s casting as Ram divided opinion online when it was first announced, but Ravie isn’t hedging his support. Speaking with Variety India, he described Kapoor as an actor operating on a different level entirely, someone whose stardom, in his words, disappears the moment he steps onto set. I think Ranbir is simply the best we have. He is a superstar of epic proportions, but what has stayed with me even more is the human being and the artiste I have witnessed at close range.”
He was equally taken by Kapoor’s demeanor off-camera — describing a warmth and accessibility that, according to Ravie, says he doesn’t carry a trace of A-list ego.
He added, “The sincerity with which he comes onto a set is unparalleled. His work ethic, etiquette, intensity and preparation; I had heard so much about these things, but I had the privilege of witnessing them firsthand.”
Furthermore, “Alongside all of that is this incredibly grounded, warm and inclusive nature. There is no weight of his stardom in the way he interacts with people. I find that enormously inspiring. It is my great good fortune to be a part of this journey alongside Ranbir, Namit (Malhotra), Nitesh (Tiwari), Yash, Sai Pallavi and every single person associated with ‘Ramayana’.”
A project bigger than ambition
For Ravie, being part of Ramayana isn’t about career milestones. He explained that whenever personal ambition crept in during the making of the film, he’d consciously pull himself back to a single idea: surrender. The scale of the project, he said, only reinforced how much bigger it was than any one person’s role in it — framing his involvement not as an achievement, but as something closer to a spiritual privilege.
Tiwari’s adaptation of Valmiki’s epic arrives as a two-part release, with Ranbir Kapoor as Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita, and Yash as Ravana anchoring a sprawling ensemble that includes Sunny Deol, Kajal Aggarwal, Lara Dutta, Arun Govil, Rakul Preet Singh, Sheeba Chaddha and Adinath Kothare. Backed by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios alongside DNEG and Yash’s Monster Mind Creations, the film carries a reported budget of Rs 4,000 crore — with a score from Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman marking their first joint work on an Indian film.