Every big mythological retelling lives or dies by its Ram, Sita and Ravana. But the Ayodhya of is a crowded palace, and this Ganesh Chaturthi, the makers finally pulled back the curtain on the family members who surround the epic’s central trio, brothers, wives, and in-laws whose stories rarely get their own spotlight.
The occasion was the release of the film’s first song, Jai Jai Ram, composed by AR Rahman and sung by Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal, which fans have been showering with praise online. The song also gives audiences their first real look at Bharat, Shatrughan, Urmila, Shrutakirti and Mandavi, characters who had stayed mostly hidden while Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Ravi Dubey, Lara Dutta and Arun Govil anchored the promotional material. The trailer alone had already teased Rakul Preet Singh, Yash, Sheeba Chaddha and Vivek Oberoi in their roles.
Here’s who plays whom and the journeys that got them there.
Adinath Kothare as Bharat
Bharat’s arc sits at the emotional center of the epic: it’s his mother Kaikeyi’s ambition to see him crowned king that sets Ram’s fourteen-year exile in motion. Marathi actor Adinath Kothare landed the part, and he’s described the experience to PTI as career-altering, calling it a rare privilege to work on Indian filmmaking of this scale.
His path there had a few detours. Kothare had earlier been in the running for a role in one of Nitesh Tiwari’s other projects, the film Tarla — and lost out.
Nitish Sharma as Shatrughan
Shatrughan is the youngest of the four royal brothers, Lakshman’s junior, and the role has gone to Nitish Sharma, an actor with a background in athletics and storytelling as well as performance.
Sharma’s casting story, which he shared on Instagram, is one for the books: He had landed what he thought was the biggest role of his career elsewhere, only to be dropped without explanation, a blow that sent him home to grieve for days. On his mother’s suggestion, he began reading the Ram Charitmanas at the family’s Hanuman shrine, and within days of starting, he got a call from casting director Mukesh Chhabra’s office.
He was initially eyed for Lakshman, then asked to screen-test as Ram itself in a pilot, a performance strong enough that director Nitesh Tiwari promised him a place in the cast. Three months later, that promise became the Shatrughan role.
Surbhi Das as Shrutakirti
Assamese actor Surbhi Das plays Shrutakirti, Sita’s younger sister and the wife of Shatrughan. As told to Mid-Day, Das had grown disillusioned with television work and was chasing digital and film opportunities when she auditioned, without fully grasping the size of the production she was walking into, a realization that only sank in gradually as the scale of the project became clear.
Sonia Balani as Urmila
Sonia Balani, familiar from Bade Achhe Lagte Hain and The Kerala Story, plays Urmila, Sita’s cousin and Lakshman’s wife. Moreover, Urmila wasn’t Balani’s first choice. She had hoped to play Surpanakha, but by the time she inquired, the part had already gone to Rakul Preet Singh, so she pivoted and auditioned for Urmila instead.
Riya Kapoor as Mandavi
Riya Kapoor, previously seen in small parts in the Telugu film MissTerious and the web series Sampoorna, rounds out the group as Mandavi, Sita’s cousin and Bharat’s wife. Urmila and Mandavi are written as sisters in the epic, daughters of King Kushadhwaja and Queen Chandrabhaga — siblings, respectively, of King Janak, Sita’s father.
The trailer had already filled in several other key relationships: Indira Krishan as Kaushalya, Sonal Jha as Sumitra, Lara Dutta as Kaikeyi, and Ranbir Kapoor pulling double duty as Parashuram alongside his lead role. Arun Govil plays King Dashrath, Ravi Dubey takes on Lakshman, and Sheeba Chaddha appears as the scheming Manthara. Vivek Oberoi rounds out the villain roster as Vidyuthjeeva, husband to Surpanakha.
One major reveal is still pending: the makers haven’t yet shown how Sunny Deol’s Hanuman will look on screen.