After months of speculation, Yash has finally confirmed playing Ravana in Nitesh Tiwari's much-awaited Ramayan production. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India recently, the KGF actor confirmed that he wil be seen as Ravana in the film that features Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram and Sai Pallavi as Sita. Apart from that, the actor also confirmed he is a co-producer of the film. He also shared an interesting anecdote about how he became a part of this film.
Yash shared that he was in Los Angeles working on VFX for his upcoming film Toxic, when Namit Malhotra, of the VFX company DNEG and Prime Focus, got in touch with him to discuss Ramayan. "He spoke about Ramayan. They had been working on it since many years and he said that 'I have this vision, this is what is happening and I am not able to put it together with the cast and all of that,'" Yash recalled.
Elaborating on how he was persuaded to play Ravana, the actor said, "If the character is treated like a character... if this doesn't happen today, then the film won't happen. To make a film with that kind of budget, you need those kind of actors to come together and work for the project. It has to be beyond yourself and your stardom. We have to place the project and the vision first."
Would he have wanted to play another character in the movie? "It's a very fascinating character. I wouldn't have done it for any other reason. In Ramayan, if you had asked me 'would you play any other character?' Probably not. For me, Ravana is the most exciting character to play as an actor so I really like the shades and the nuances of particular character. There's vast scope to present it in a very different way," Yash replied.
Ramayan, being made on a reported budget of Rs 835 crore, is scheduled to release in 2025, and is currently in the pre-production stage.