Mumbai: Ranbir Kapoor has responded to the criticism surrounding the VFX of his upcoming film ‘Ramayana’, calling out those who judge its visual effects after watching the trailer on their phones.
The actor said it was “quite funny” to see people criticising the film’s computer-generated imagery without understanding the extensive work that goes into creating such visuals.
Nitesh Tiwari’s ‘Ramayana’ is among the most eagerly awaited films of the year.
Following the release of its trailer on July 30, the film’s visuals and VFX became a major talking point.
While many viewers praised its ambitious scale, others criticised the quality of its CGI.
Speaking about the mixed reactions in an interview with Collider, Ranbir addressed the growing scrutiny surrounding visual effects and what he described as the emergence of “CG critics”.
The actor noted that audiences have become increasingly conscious of CGI, particularly with the growing influence and accessibility of AI.
“There has been a phenomenon right now. In the last few years, there are such a large number of people who have become these CG critics. They see the trailer, and they are always critiquing that it’s not good enough or it’s seemingly not done. So I think people are getting more aware, especially with the influx of AI. People are getting more interested in how good the CGI is and how good the CGI will finally look once the film releases,” he said.
Ranbir further explained that creating high-quality CGI involves years of work by visual effects artists.
“I think it’s quite funny sometimes because people who know how CG is done think like someone’s just used some AI and released something. You know, there are countless hours of work where artists are working for years. I have seen Nitesh sir and Namit sitting on VFX calls ever since this project started, trying to get even a certain colour of the sky right. I think it’s tricky right now trying to impress the audience with authentic CGI,” he added.
The film’s producer, Namit Malhotra, also addressed the criticism, suggesting that some of the reactions could be attributed to viewers watching the trailer on mobile phones rather than experiencing it in IMAX 3D.
Describing the criticism as “noise”, Malhotra said the team has been encouraging creators and influencers to experience the visuals in the format they were designed for.
Citing Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ as an example, he explained that films of such scale are best experienced on a large-format IMAX screen.
According to Malhotra, judging the visual and sound quality of a film on a phone does not accurately represent the experience intended by its makers.
Made on a reported budget of ₹4,000 crore, Ramayana features a star-studded cast, with Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama and Sai Pallavi as Sita.
Ravie Dubey plays Lakshman, while Yash portrays Ravana and Sunny Deol plays Lord Hanuman.
Arun Govil, Vivek Oberoi, Rakul Preet Singh and Lara Dutta are also part of the cast in key roles.
The epic is planned as a two-part franchise. The first instalment is slated to release during Diwali 2026, followed by the second part during Diwali 2027.
