Ranbir Kapoor reveals why he wore rubber slippers through much of ‘Ramayana’ shoot despite playing Lord Ram: ‘This is something I guess nobody will ever know because it’s not on screen’

Nitesh Tiwari‘s ‘Ramayana’ has remained one of the most talked-about films since its trailer debuted last week. While the glimpse of the mythological epic has sparked widespread discussions over Ranbir Kapoor‘s portrayal of Lord Ram, the actor has now shared an interesting behind-the-scenes detail, revealing that he spent a large part of the shoot wearing rubber slippers that never made it to the final cut.

Rubber slippers had an important purpose

Speaking to Screen Rant, Ranbir explained that a key moment from the epic required his character to remain barefoot for a substantial portion of the film. However, performing action sequences on rough terrain made that nearly impossible.Recalling the experience, he said, “This is something I guess nobody will ever know because it’s not on screen. But in the story, Lord Rama’s brother takes his slippers and keeps them on the throne, saying, ‘Your slippers will remain here on the throne until you return from exile.’ So, for a big chunk of the movie, I’m barefoot. And when you’re doing action on rough surfaces, it’s very hard to do that. So I had to wear these slippers, which were basically rubber slippers. Because it’s DNEG, they could very easily erase them in post.”

Ranbir Kapoor was always the first choice

Producer Namit Malhotra also spoke about the casting process, revealing that Ranbir Kapoor was the team’s preferred choice from the very beginning.He said, “For both of us (Nitesh and him), right from the get-go, it was almost natural to see Lord Ram being essayed by Ranbir. He’s a big star and, you know, who knows what he was doing back then. So we were like, before we could even think about who’s option two or who’s option three, it was just, ‘Option one is him. Let’s see if we can get him.’”Director Nitesh Tiwari echoed the sentiment with a light-hearted remark, “Yeah, option A, B and C was Ranbir.”

Epic cast and release plans of ‘Ramayana’

Designed as a two-part cinematic adaptation of the ancient epic, ‘Ramayana’ features Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana and Sunny Deol as Hanuman.The first instalment of the ambitious mythological saga is scheduled to release during Diwali 2026, with the second chapter expected to arrive the following year.