Director Nitesh Tiwari revealed some secrets regarding the large-scale project 'Ramayana' featuring Ranbir Kapoor, which is being created with a budget of 4000 crore. He shared details on how much time was spent creating various parts of the film, including the battle scene between Jatayu and Ravana.
In an interview with host Suma, Nitesh Tiwari elaborated on the labor-intensive process of creating the Pushpak Vimana for the film. According to him, the most time was spent on meticulously developing the script. The team's main objective was to create a version based on Valmiki's Ramayana, while integrating beautiful plotlines from other versions of the Ramayana.
Nitesh noted that there are over 300 different versions of the Ramayana in India, many of which contain small but wonderful stories. He emphasized that all these versions harmonize with each other, even though some characters are depicted differently. The team's goal was to present this great story in a film that people could be proud of, ensuring justice to this epic.
The script preparation process itself proved extremely complex. Following that, a real difficulty arose—how to translate the concept from paper to screen. This required significant preparation, and a lot of time was dedicated to character development and other film elements.
Nitesh Tiwari also discussed the work on visual effects (VFX) in the film, specifically highlighting the fight between Ravana and Jatayu. The director stated that completing this single scene took six and a half years. He explained that creating high-quality VFX requires a lot of time. He gave an example so the audience could grasp the scale of the work: it took six and a half years from the first presentation of this scene to its final realization by the artists.
Hearing this, Ranbir Kapoor added that this referred only to one action sequence, for which so much time was spent on preparation. The director continued that if he started talking about the entire work from the beginning, he could talk for hours, as thousands of people worked on it.
Nitesh Tiwari further specified that the team required about two years to develop the final design of the Pushpak Vimana. However, the work did not end there. Changes in the vimana's design forced the redoing of the Ravana and Jatayu battle scene. He explained that initially, the fight was choreographed considering the old design of the vimana. But when the final design was approved, it differed greatly from the previous one, necessitating numerous revisions to the battle scene.
He gave an example: 'Now Jatayu cannot appear here because a dome-like structure has been formed. So we have to think about what to do next. Thus, the design changed repeatedly for its improvement.' Nitesh also mentioned that before choosing the final design, the team prepared about 40–50 different options. He stressed that they did not want to create a flying machine that looked like it couldn't fly; they aimed for it to have a scientific basis, as they believed everything happened for some scientific reason in that era. The Pushpak Vimana must look like it can actually fly. Nitesh also added that his team knows perfectly how the Pushpak Vimana flies, moves, and what is inside it.
As for Nitesh Tiwari, most of his previous films have been commercially successful. His latest work, 'Bawaal', was released directly on OTT, starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor. Now he presents 'Ramayana', which is set to release on November 5th. It remains to be seen whether the audience will appreciate his diligent effort.
