Mumbai: Ranbir Kapoor is gearing up for one of the most anticipated projects of his career, ‘Ramayana’, where he will be portraying Lord Rama.
Speaking about the film in a joint interview with director Nitesh Tiwari for Top Magazine, Ranbir shared that essaying the revered character brought several changes to his personal life, and also helped him overcome certain bad habits and become a better father to daughter Raha.
The actor also admitted that he was initially hesitant to play Lord Rama.
“Will I be able to do justice? Am I worthy enough?” he questioned himself.
However, over time, the fear gradually turned into gratitude.
“But I think very soon that fear turned into love and gratitude because I understood not that it would be something like a career-defining move for me, but it was definitely life-defining, you know, it changed my life,” Ranbir shared.
“You know, it got me closer to understanding the Ramayana, to understanding Lord Rama’s journey. I think it made so many positive changes in my life. You know, my bad habits, it changed my value system, the way I look at life, the way I look at loss, the way I look at sacrifice, the way I look at Dharma, and I think I really needed that in my life,” the actor said.
Reflecting on what makes Lord Rama extraordinary, Ranbir said, “What makes Rama truly sacred is how deeply human he is. He goes through most of the intense emotions, whether it’s loss, injustice, conflict, and yet the way he responds, he responds out of compassion and not out of ego.”
He continued, “And I think that’s such a beautiful learning, especially in today’s world, is to really respond out of compassion because we are always high-strung. We are always out there… on the edge. We just want to reply and give our point of view. And I think the way Rama responds with restraint, with humility, with forgiveness, with compassion, to me that’s beyond human. It’s beyond even superhuman.”
The actor further revealed that ‘Ramayana’ became a part of his journey during a deeply meaningful period, after welcoming his daughter Raha.
“It was such a sweet coincidence in my life. Raha made me a better person and Ramayana wanted me to be a better person for Raha, so everything was connected,” Ranbir said.
Calling the film a blessing, the actor added, “Like I said, I was at the right place at the right time when a film of this magnitude was being made on our truth, on our culture, on our history in the most authentic way. It was just a blessing and I’m going to be grateful for all my life.”
The actor also said that Lord Rama’s greatest strength lies in his restraint, inner calm and dedication to following the path of dharma.
He explained, “Rama is truly human, he is not somebody who has superpowers, but his superpower is his calmness, his restraint, the ability to follow his dharma, the ability to forgive.”
The actor added, “Rama is a warrior, but the thing is that it’s not about his strength or his muscles or the fact that he can take down an army of asuras or monsters. It’s what makes him feel; even in killing somebody, the emotion that he feels is something which I could relate to and a larger audience would relate.”
Ramayana will be released in two instalments, the first one scheduled to be released worldwide in October 2026.
