Hrithik to play Raavan, Ranbir to play Ram in ‘Ramayana’: Report

The media reported on Saturday that Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor visited producer Jackky Bhagnani’s office together. Fans of both stars speculated that Jackky was producing a two-hero film with the two. Pinkvilla has exclusively learnt that the duo have visited Namit Malhotra’s office and had a closed-door meeting with Namit, Madhu Mantena and director Nitesh Tiwari about the epic Ramayana.

For those unaware, Ramayana is produced by Madhu Mantena, Allu Arvind and Namit Malhora, with Nitesh Tiwari and Ravi Udyawar serving as the directors. In fact, this was their first joint meeting with Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor, who play Raavaan and Ram, respectively. They discussed the massive vision for this project and even tentative plans to begin filming sometime in the second half of next year, said a source close to the project. Ram and Ravana are locked up, but Sita has yet to be cast.

Producer Madhu Mantena informed Pinkvilla that the cast of Ramayana would be announced during Diwali, however, according to our source, there could be a delay in this announcement. The team intends to announce something massive via a creative sneak-peek featuring all three principal characters, Ram, Ravana, and Sita, the source explained. This was more of an ice-breaking session between all parties involved. Hrithik will be headed to Abu Dhabi to shoot Vikram Vedha in a fortnight, while Ranbir will wrap up Luv Ranjan’s next, followed by the final 10-day shoot of Brahmastra. The creative team wanted to meet to discuss some basic stuff about Ramayana before proceeding with other projects. Interesting enough, Namit’s office is in the same building as Jackky Bhagnani’s, which led to media confusion.

The production of Ramayana will be overseen by Madhu, but Namit will be responsible for the visual effects of this magnum opus, which is the most ambitious film of Bollywood. In Ramayana, Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor will be working together for the first time, which is one of the biggest casting coups in recent years.