'KGF' star Yash has officially confirmed that he will be portraying the role of Ravana in Nitesh Tiwari’s upcoming film ‘Ramayan’, where Ranbir Kapoor is set to play Lord Rama and Sai Pallavi will star as Sita. After months of speculation, Yash, who is also co-producing the film, addressed the rumours in a recent interview and shared that he plans to present the film on an international scale.
Yash shares how he got involved with Ramayan
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, Yash shared how he became involved with the film. The actor recounted being in Los Angeles working on VFX for another project, ‘Toxic’, when he was approached by Namit Malhotra from DNEG and Prime Focus. “He spoke about Ramayan. They had been working on it since many years and he said that I have this vision, this is what is happening and I am not able to put it together with the cast and all of that,” Yash explained.
Yash recalled that Malhotra “hesitatingly” asked if he would be interested in playing Ravana. The KGF star responded, “If the character is treated like a character… if this doesn’t happen today, then the film won’t happen. To make a film with that kind of budget, you need those kind of actors to come together and work on the project. It has to be beyond yourself and your stardom. We have to place the project and the vision first.”
Following that, Yash met with director Nitesh Tiwari to explore how they could bring the project to life.
When asked about the casting of Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama and Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash shared that Ranbir was already attached to the film when he joined. “Sai Pallavi, we took a collaborative decision. I believe this film has to have everybody from south and north for it to be a... Nitesh ji always wanted Sai Pallavi. I also said that it’s a great choice,” Yash added.
Yash on why he agreed to play Ravana
Famous for his role as Rocky Bhai in the KGF franchise, Yash also discussed his excitement about playing Ravana. He said that if he had been offered a different character in ‘Ramayan’, he likely wouldn’t have accepted the role. “It’s a very fascinating character. I wouldn’t have done it for any other reason. In Ramayan, if you had asked me ‘would you play any other character?’ Probably not. For me, Ravana is the most exciting character to play as an actor, so I really like the shades and the nuances of that particular character. There’s vast scope to present it in a very different way. As an actor, I am very excited. Hopefully, it’s going to be a very unique approach to it,” he concluded.