Ranbir Kapoor leads ambitious epic 'Ramayana'

[0:06] we were actually filming a very intense scene uh you know it's one of the uh and a very dramatic [0:12] scene uh but like my producer was sitting on my left uh he had the demand of of of doing this [0:19] uh but you know when you're making something and you're working so hard at it and you see [0:24] the potential uh you know the marketing of the movie is as important as making the movie [0:30] unless uh you know you go out there and you spread the message that listen this is the work we're [0:35] doing um and and come and sample it come and give us an opportunity because this is the greatest [0:41] epic coming from my country india uh the greatest story uh where so many stories have stemmed from [0:48] marketing is a very hard uh aspect of of at least for me you know because i i come from [0:55] the world of creativity uh but sometimes you know you work on something which is a once [0:59] in a lifetime opportunity like the ramayana and then you really want to go out there and you know [1:05] you know you're going to have a dream at the top of your lungs you know come and check this out [1:09] because you know it's really going to be worth it you want to add something yeah i think it was [1:14] actually very interesting because it you feel like a bit of a you know time lapse right now [1:19] because we literally were on site yesterday and i remember my day because it started off in the [1:24] morning looking at some you know pieces of the music that we just played for you guys [1:31] we're just getting our final mix together we're going to set you know netesh and ranbir were [1:36] obviously busy [1:37] filming away and i just sort of went there for a couple of hours just to sort of show my face [1:42] i remember there was a moment where you came on set and i was trying to remember a dialogue [1:45] and he wanted to tell me okay now we're going to new york also i was like give me a minute [1:48] i'm still you know i'm still figuring this out think about that right now so uh so i did that [1:54] made sure that they knew the logistics because we've had some of the most crazy travel logistics [1:59] you can imagine because of the war flight times have taken 40 50 more so it's not a quick trip [2:07] uh india to the west coast it only took longer and in between that they were filming i went there [2:14] you know saw them filming you know spoke a bit about our travel and what we're going to do [2:19] next couple of days and then i went back to the to the theater where we were doing the final color [2:25] and the and the 3d so i was sort of looking at all of that for the teaser that we've put out today [2:31] at the same time being on set and figuring out all these logistics of global travel which is pretty [2:37] crazy [2:41] it's a very important story and i think most people in the world deserve to know it [2:46] and whatever it takes from our side to make sure that happens is what needs to be done will be [2:52] done well i think when when we are filming especially when you're creating something you [2:56] just have to be very honest and true to the moment you have to have immense belief and faith in what [3:01] you're doing uh you know because it's just not you it's it's it's a culmination of more than 300 [3:07] people you know trying to get a moment right so that when the audience comes and experiences it [3:12] they feel that they can experience the truth they can experience uh what we're trying to say [3:17] you know which is uh which is um a culmination of love over war which is a culmination a triumph of [3:24] good versus evil uh as what you just mentioned you know with so much of unrest in the world [3:30] uh you know ramayan is a is a film that really can make you believe in goodness [3:34] again you know the good qualities of of a human being the triumph of a human spirit uh during [3:40] uh adversities um so i think but but when you're filming you're not thinking of these things you [3:46] know you're just thinking about about what what what you're doing and trying to spiritually [3:50] emotionally uh you know be present at the moment i think it goes beyond that i think [3:57] it happens to have become that date it's actually lord hanuman's birth anniversary also and [4:04] there is no greater believer in lord ram than hanuman and that is my good fortune that i'm a [4:12] it sort of coincides with my birthday so we said what's a better way to bring to the world you know [4:18] from the greatest believer in lord ram uh you know and it's sort of it's a gift from that standpoint [4:25] uh and the fact that it happens to be my birthday is a is a is like they say icing on the cake so [4:31] from the day we started we were cognizant of everything you just said that this uh that it [4:37] has all of these sensitivities and sensitivities and complexities rolled into one that being said [4:43] there's also a very clear belief that this is something that the world must see for various [4:49] reasons and that is something that just in my head you know as someone who's built whatever i've done [4:57] rather disruptively from building a little garage startup in mumbai and trying to build the bridge [5:03] with hollywood which again in over 100 years nobody's ever done before and we really were [5:08] able to do that this to me is the culmination of that journey that i started that you know [5:13] we build this [5:14] and i'm like what's a better way to actually give back to the people of the world [5:21] something that i believe is so rich in our culture and spirituality that i think the world is ready [5:26] to take and you know knowing very well that this is going to have all the pointers that you just [5:32] raised of sensitivity and love we felt no one better than us to do it so the way we assembled [5:39] the team i couldn't have asked for a better director with better understanding of not just a [5:44] person but also who he is as a person and then the kind of team that we surrounded ourselves [5:50] around in terms of whether it's Ranvir as an actor to Yash as a partner and you know again [5:57] a great star and then there's Sanidho playing Hanuman, Saipalavi as Sita the list is list goes [6:03] on and on we've had it's a it's almost magical to sort of imagine that we could bring this kind of [6:10] people together Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman so you can just we can just keep expanding that and we're [6:14] will keep seeing that oh you've got these people and these people and these people and there's [6:19] something about what the ramayan is that automatically draws the people together [6:24] we've also obviously we're relying on a couple of experts that i think nitesh speaks to [6:28] a lot to gain certain perspective on making sure that we don't overstep a line that [6:36] may be hurtful to some section of people in the world but i think just the story and the culture [6:44] is so loaded with you know all the goodness that you would want to see in any big screen [6:52] extravaganza epic ramayan has it all so for me you know in so many ways it's the easiest thing [6:59] but also the hardest because of the love that people have for it so as long as we don't do [7:05] anything that's disrespecting that i think we're in a good place yeah i'll just like to elaborate [7:11] little further on what namit just said the very certain defined do's and don'ts [7:19] you know like just to give an example that i cannot take any liberty with the with the lord [7:27] ram i cannot take any liberty uh he is who he is his values are what they were uh he's gonna remain [7:36] lord ram the way he exactly has always been but things and people he interacts with i can take [7:46] liberty in that and you would have seen uh certain uh episodes which you saw certain glimpses here [7:55] the action sequence where a demoness is chasing him you know her name is tadka now how she looks [8:01] like is a scope is an area where i can take certain liberty so we have visualized her a little [8:07] differently how pushback woman the plane which you saw towards the end how that looks like how [8:13] it functions we can take certain liberties out there uh you know i think i was i was extremely [8:18] blessed to have this opportunity at which coincided with the time that i became a father [8:26] my daughter's three and a half now and at one side i'm going to work and i'm and i'm playing lord [8:33] ram but i'm also going home and i'm like and i'm telling her stories about the ramayan and i just [8:38] to see a three and a half year old being so engaged and asking me did you shoot with hanuman today did [8:43] you shoot with sita today what did you shoot today you know she she has so much of interest [8:47] towards this story which tells a lot that you know it's in our dna you know in our [8:51] the culture is so seeped in into our subconscious that that that it it comes very naturally the [8:59] interest and the love comes very naturally you know to us and we really want that to really [9:04] appeal to a larger audience to a global audience and really sample something that we have believed [9:09] for centuries you know and will continue to believe for centuries