Mukesh Khanna Doubts Ranbir Kapoor’s Ability To Embody Maryada Purushottam In ‘Ramayana’

Mumbai: Even as fans are excited to see Ranbir Kapoor portraying the character of Lord Ram in Nitesh Tiwari’s ‘Ramayana’, veteran actor Mukesh Khanna expressed his doubt over the actor’s ability to embody Ram’s ideal image onscreen.

In a recent interview with Galatta India, Mukesh said, “From what I can see, I don’t know if Ranbir Kapoor can pull off the Maryada Purushottam image of Rama. He’s a good actor, but he has an image chasing him — and that’s Animal. I don’t have an objection to it. He could do it. But I think agar aapne Rama ko Yodha Rama bataya, toh log accept nahi kar paayenge. Iske upar gadbad ho sakti hai (If you show Lord Rama as a warrior, then people will not accept it. This can create a problem).”

Mukesh, who played Bhishma Pitamah in BR Chopra’s television series ‘Mahabharat’, further expressed that showing Ram climbing a tree and shooting an arrow in the film will definitely not go down well with the viewers as Lord Ram was not a warrior.

“Ched chaad karoge toh phasoge. Aap Ram ko yodha bata rahe ho, vo Maryada Purushottam the (If you alter the script, you’ll get into trouble. You are calling Ram a warrior, but he was the Maryada Purushottam — the ideal man). They’re showing Lord Ram climbing trees and shooting arrows. Krishna or Arjuna can do that, but Rama wouldn’t do it. If Rama proclaimed himself as a warrior, he would never ask monkeys to help him. He was enough, one man against Ravana,” he said.

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra, ‘Ramayana’ features Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman, and Kannada star Yash as Ravana.

The film is scheduled to release in two parts — the first part will release on Diwali 2026 and the second part on Diwali 2027.