'Scary, Liberating, Mind-Numbing': Nitesh Tiwari Opens Up On Making Ramayana Starring Ranbir Kapoor

Hyderabad: Filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari opened up about the creative intensity behind creating India's most ambitious visual-effects film, calling the process "scary, liberating, and mind-numbing all at the same time". Speaking at the WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa, Tiwari delved into the effort of making his upcoming movie Ramayana, which he says demands the kind of visual storytelling that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world's top VFX productions.

The director revealed that the film's massive scale is matched only by the responsibility of envisioning one of India's most sacred epics. "Ramayana deserves to be told in the grandeur it deserves... something visually so stunning that it becomes a benchmark for the whole world." That expectation, he said, was overwhelming in the beginning. "It took me two years to come to terms with the fact that I was making such a big film... Today I'm very comfortable, but it wasn't easy, and we are still one year away from the release of the first part."

A large part of this journey evolved in collaboration with one of the world's most prominent VFX companies, Prime Focus. Tiwari called the process "scary, liberating, and mind-numbing all at the same time" and mentioned how the team immersed itself in a five-year journey of virtual production, motion capture and world-building.

The filmmaker mentioned that a significant portion of the learning process for his work on Ramayana began from the ground up. Tiwari, who has delivered films like Dangal, Chhichhore, Bawaal, Chillar Party and more, is now shifting to a VFX-heavy environment, which requires him to adapt his filmmaking techniques to leverage the potential of advanced visual effects. "Working in virtual production changes the grammar of filmmaking," he said.

While discussing the future of storytelling, Tiwari also shared a long-time ambition of creating an animated film rooted in Indian culture. He revealed that an animation project based on "Indian locations, Indian characters and story but for the world" remains on his bucket list.

Ramayana, made on an estimated budget of Rs 4000-12000 crore, stars Ranbir Kapoor as Ram, Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman, Sunny Deol as Hanuman, Kajal Aggarwal as Mandodari, and Lara Dutt as Kaikeyi. The film is scheduled to hit the silver screens in November 2026.

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