Ramayana, a film directed by Nitesh Tiwari that is expected to be one of the highest grossing films of 2023, was kept under wraps for the greater part of this year. Filming was completed without any publicity completely surrounding the movie itself, which had a very high level of security during production as well as filming.

Due to the lack of published information surrounding the over 200 million dollar budget, anticipation for the film has spread rapidly due to the recent leak of pictures showing Indian actor Ranbir Kapoor (who will portray Lord Rama) being photographed walking from a shooting area to a trailer.

Photographs published on the website ‘Zoom’ seemingly show Ranbir walking from the trailer and heading towards the trailer (vanity van) between takes. The pictures are of Ranbir being accompanied by crew members with an umbrella up over his head and with production vans located in the background of the picture. The appearance of Ranbir wearing a saffron dhoti, a janeu (a Hindu religious string worn on the upper shoulder), and a dark cloth draped over his upper body are readily apparent in the photos and give an excellent representation of the character that he will portray in the film, and the remainder of his attire would seem to be a wig.

As noted, the only thing we do not know are the dates these photos were likely taken. We know that Part 1 of Ramayana has completed filming, and as of the date that this article was written, Part 2 is still in production.

Images of the leaked content were quickly shared across several social media platforms including Reddit and user response is overwhelmingly negative. Many users questioned the quality of the wig used on the character as one user mentioned “If you’re going to produce a movie with a budget of $400-$500 million, you would expect them to pay attention to details.” A producer of this film is Namit Malhotra, and as previously stated by producers in interviews, the Ramayana two-part project is made with an extremely large budget, and will therefore be considered one of the largest Indian films ever made.

Several users commented that the look of Lord Rama does not correlate with the appearance of Lord Rama as described in various mythological texts or depicted in illustrations associated with the Ramayana. Other users mentioned that if the character were depicted with long hair, it would most likely have a top knot as is depicted in multiple works of art and comic book adaptations.

A lot of social media commentators compared the Ramayana film to Adipurush – the 2023 adaptation of the Ramayana story directed by Om Raut and starring Prabhas. In their remarks, social media commentators have highlighted how the creators of this new version of Ramayana apparently did not learn from the mistakes that were made with Adipurush, specifically in terms of the use of excessive amounts of CGI/visual effects in the film. Although Adipurush was one of the most expensive Indian films released to date, it failed to make any money at the box office because it did not resonate with audiences.

The responses on social media were not universally negative. Some commentators encouraged other viewers to hold off on making definitive judgments until an official teaser or trailer is released, suggesting that one or two leaked images from the set may not accurately portray the final product.

About Ramayana

The cast of Ramayana Part One includes other well-known actors besides Ranbir Kapoor. Actors who appeared in Ramayana included Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman, and Ravie Dubey as Lakshman. The music in the movie, created by legendary composer Hans Zimmer in partnership with A. R. Rahman, will make this epic drama even more impressive.

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Produced by Namit Malhotra and under the banner of Prime Focus Studios, the movie was first revealed in July, which created excitement among fans. The release date for Ramayana Part One is planned for sometime in October 2026, just before Diwali.