‘Unsure if Ranbir Kapoor can pull off Ram’s Maryada Purshottam image,’ says Mukesh Khanna: ‘Ramayana can’t be made with Rs 1,000 cr budget, it needs…’

Mukesh Khanna feels Ranbir Kapoor will have to fight his Animal image if he wants to play Rama as Maryada Purshottam in Nitesh Tiwari's adaptation of Ramayana. "Rama doesn't climb trees and shoot arrows," argued the Shaktimaan actor.

Mukesh Khanna feels Ranbir Kapoor has to get rid of his Animal image to play Rama in Ramayana.

Shaktimaan actor Mukesh Khanna, who also played Bhishma Pitamah in BR Chopra’s iconic televisions series Mahabharat, is more optimistic about Nitesh Tiwari’s adaptation of the Ramayana than he was for Om Raut’s 2023 epic Adipurush, starring Prabhas as Rama, Kriti Sanon as Sita, and Saif Ali Khan as Ravana, but still has his reservations.

Khanna believes Ranbir Kapoor makes for a good Rama, but has to contend with the baggage that he’s carrying from his last blockbuster, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2023 controversial family crime drama Animal. “They’re showing Rama is climbing trees and shooting arrows. Krishna or Arjuna can do that, but Rama won’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,” argued Khanna.

“From what I can see, I don’t know if Ranbir Kapoor can pull off the Maryada Purshottam 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 with it. He could do it,” added Khanna in the interview with Galatta India. He revealed he even shot a two-minute video to upload on his social media explaining his objection of the depiction of Rama in Ramayana: The Introduction, but he was wrongly informed by his team that the visual isn’t real, but AI-generated by YouTubers.

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Khanna was also approached by a publication to comment on Ranbir being chosen to play Rama, despite confessing that he loves eating beef. “I said I won’t comment. He’d have eaten beef, let it be,” said Khanna. However, the actor admits he’s hopeful, but still a little on the edge about the upcoming two-part film adaptation given Bollywood’s recent track record of adapting the epic on the big screen.

“There can’t be a bigger subject than the Ramayana. But I’ve seen how they’ve made chutney out of Adipurush. Now, someone else is making it. If you make it with the same attitude, then the Hindus of today won’t spare you,” said Khanna, adding, “Ramayana isn’t made of Rs 1,000 crore. It’s made of content. Just like Shaktimaan isn’t made of stars, but made of content even if you take a newcomer. If you put a star in Shaktimaan hoping it would work just on the basis of that, then you’re not even sure of Shaktimaan. Why do you need big actors in Ramayana?”

Also Read — ‘Shaktimaan ki zarurat hai aaj ke bachon ko,’ says Mukesh Khanna; reveals he made a mistake while signing agreement with Sony: ‘Casting mein atak gaya’

Khanna had famously turned down Ranveer Singh as the choice to play Shaktimaan, an iconic role he made popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, even though Singh tried to convince him for three hours at his office. Khanna had openly expressed his reservations against Adipurush in 2023, slamming the dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir for insulting the scripture.

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