Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Submit Guest Post

Yash says Ravana in 'Ramayana' must connect with Western viewers as film eyes global audience

The $500 million two-part epic opens in India and the United States on Diwali, November 8

Yash says Ravana in 'Ramayana' must connect with Western viewers as film eyes global audience

Praised for visuals, but some criticised Western-style asura designs for not fully reflecting Hindu roots

Instagram/thenameisyash/YouTube
Ashya Rose
By Ashya RoseApr 18, 2026
Ashya Rose

Ashya Rose is a junior journalist with Eastern Eye. She covers British Asian and community news, with a primary focus on business stories on UK and Asian companies. She also writes on tech, the restaurant industry, culture and world affairs.

See Full Bio
Follow:

Highlights

  • Yash says he humanised Ravana to help global audiences relate to the character.
  • Asura designs in the first glimpse drew criticism for looking too Western-inspired.
  • Producer Namit Malhotra compares the film's tone to Lord of the Rings and Gladiator.
Yash, who plays the demon king Ravana in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana, says his portrayal was shaped by one clear goal: making the character relatable beyond Indian audiences.
Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, where the film was presented alongside major Hollywood releases, the actor said he worked to strip away the purely mythological reading of the role.

"I have tried to internalise the whole essence of Ravana and tried to make him as human as possible at times," Yash told Reuters.

"It is important for people to relate to him, and since we have global ambitions, we need to make it familiar to a Western audience as well."

The comments came after the film's first glimpse, released globally earlier this month, drew mixed responses.

Many praised the visual scale, but some critics pointed out that the asura character designs appeared heavily Western-inspired, raising questions about how faithfully the production reflects its Hindu roots.

Producer Namit Malhotra acknowledged the film is deliberately positioned between two worlds.

He described Ramayana as drawing on the spirit of The Lord of the Rings and Gladiator while staying rooted in Valmiki's ancient epic.

"It will promise a very different experience unlike anything traditional Indian movies offer or even Hollywood.

It is meant for the world, and it has got the best of the East and the best of the West coming together to make it happen," Malhotra said.

The two-part production carries a combined budget of up to $500 million, making it the most expensive Indian film ever made.

Ranbir Kapoor plays Lord Rama, with Sai Pallavi as Sita, Sunny Deol as Hanuman and Ravie Dubey as Lakshman.

Part One opens worldwide on November 8, coinciding with Diwali. Part Two follows in 2027.

ranbir kapooryashsai pallaviravi dubeyramayana movie
Add EasternEye As Your Trusted Source
preferred source on google news

Related News

Hanging by a Wire: Mohammed Ali Naqvi revisits Pakistan's cable car rescue
Entertainment

Hanging by a Wire: Mohammed Ali Naqvi revisits Pakistan's cable car rescue

Dane-Buckley-darling
Entertainment

Dane Buckley embraces Irish Indian roots in debut Edinburgh Fringe show

Never-Had-a-Chance
Entertainment

Amar Chaggar’s Never Had a Chance tackles difficult issues in British Asian community

Arvind-Ethan-David
Entertainment

Sikh detective takes centre stage in Arvind Ethan David's debut novel

More For You

9 celebs who moved from LA to London and why the list keeps growing

Official figures show a genuine 26 per cent rise in Americans applying for UK citizenship in 2024

Getty Images

9 celebs who moved from LA to London and why the list keeps growing

Highlights:

  • Nine more names have quietly joined London's growing celebrity population, some confirmed only in the past few months.
  • Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively reportedly bought a home in Richmond, southwest London, for between £8m and £9m, in early 2026.
  • Hugh Jackman is said to be weighing a permanent UK stay after filming in London, joining a growing list of actors who came for a job and started looking at estate agents' windows instead.
  • Official figures show a genuine 26 per cent rise in Americans applying for UK citizenship in 2024, though some widely repeated statistics about the trend don't hold up under checking.

London's celebrity population keeps growing, and not always for the reasons anyone expects. Last year, we looked at ten stars who'd already made London their full-time home, Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Gosling, Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma among them. Since then, the list hasn't stopped growing. Some of these moves are brand new. Others have been quietly settled for years without much fuss. Here are nine names adding themselves to the city's ever-expanding resident list.

9 celebs who've made the move

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively The most recent addition to this list, and one of the more concrete ones. Early reports in 2026 suggested the couple purchased a home on Richmond Hill for somewhere between £8 million and £9 million. Reynolds and Lively have spent most of their time between New York properties in Bedford and Tribeca, which makes a dedicated London base a genuinely new chapter rather than a rumour repeated for years.

Keep ReadingShow less