Vindu Dara Singh is all praise for Ramayana, particularly Ranbir Kapoor’s portrayal of Lord Ram and Yash’s performance as Ravan. However, he feels Sai Pallavi is the only miscast in the film. The actor also believes Sunny Deol’s Hanuman will be a major highlight of the second part, which he predicts will shatter box-office records.
How do you react to Ramayana?
I loved it. It’s very nice. You see, it’s the first time that somebody’s made a movie which you don’t feel offended and which you don’t feel bad about it. You don’t feel, “Arey yeh kya bana diya ya woh kya.” It looks perfect. It looks very nice. So, I’m happy. Thank God, because otherwise, people are still relating to old Ramayan.
The main thing is that when you make something different from that, it doesn’t click. So, these people did a very brilliant job where they showed how Asuras are fighting with the Devas, and from there, the point of view of Ravan. So, Ravan, though, is amazing. Yash has just killed it. He’s just too good. Ram is, Ram is fantastic.
How do you rate Ranbir Kapoor as Ram?
Superb. I loved him. Ranbir is one of the best, finest actors in the country anyway. So, the main thing they did brilliant is to make Arun Govil the father. Now Arun Govil is Dashrath, so it looks like, “Arey, Ram, Ram ka beta hi Ram.” So, it looks very nice with that character.
Ranbir has acted fantastic and looked fantastic. Now, he’ll have a problem doing an Animal 2 and all. He’ll have a problem if people start looking at him as Ram.
And Sai Pallavi as Sita?
That’s the only miscast according to me. She’s a fantastic actress. But I think, the face… Maybe somebody who fitted the role better [should have been cast]. I think that is one mistake, according to me, in this movie.
Surpanakha was superb. They’ve highlighted Ravan as a deadly figure. Sunny Deol’s entry (as Hanuman) created madness. The whole theater was going crazy.
So, it’s everything is very lovely. I think this movie and the next part, they’ll create history. It’s very brilliantly made. So proud of this movie. Thank God.
What is the one takeaway from Ramayana for you?
I am doing a show called Mahakaal. In Mahakaal, we’ve first time used a lot of AI. You know, AI, and we’ve shown things where people, when they see that, they understand, “Oh, this is the reason why Shivji is called Mahakaal. This is the reason why Shakti peeths are made.” So, we’ve shown them in such a way that people, when the show finishes, they tell us, “Thank you for taking us to Kailasha.” Because nobody can go to Kailasha mountain, but we take them there in that show. People feel that we visited Mount Kailasha just by seeing Mahakaal.
So, this is the power of AI when you use it properly. Now here they’ve shown Brahma and Vishnu, who’s bigger, who’s smaller. So, when you show those things, you can’t show them on stage naturally, or on a film naturally.
I remember when dad (Dara Singh) used to fly, it was such a hard thing to make him fly with one small little machine. But now it’s brilliant the way they’ve shot the whole sequence where Ravan takes Sita away, they were very sensible. They didn’t do anything where people would abuse them, or say, “This is wrong, why did you touch her hand?” They avoided any kind of controversy.
I think they could have had many more clap worthy things, but they didn’t. They kept it very simple, and made a brilliant movie. Yeah, because in this people don’t feel like shouting out loudly “Jai Shri Ram” and all that. Maybe in the second part, it’ll be more. Because always, in Ramayan, all these things, when Hanuman ji comes, action begins. So, the action will be in the second part. Second part will be phenomenal, it’ll break all records, because that’s how when we do Ramayan, when we do Ramleela, public is coming, but they wait for the day when Hanuman ji comes, and that day it’s full.
So, this is how this part two will be. Phenomenal it’ll be. First day only will shatter all records in the history of Bollywood, according to me. That’s how it is.
