Our Bureau
Mumbai
As the first glimpse of Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana was released for the world to see, people have been excited to know which actors are being cast in which roles. It was recently revealed that Arun Govil who played the role of Lord Ram in the Ramanand Sagar’s TV series Ramayan is being casted as Dasharath in the upcoming movie.
Veteran actress Dipika Chikhlia, who portrayed the role of Sita in the iconic 1987 TV series, was asked about her opinions on Arun Govil’s casting as Lord Ram’s father King Dasharath. Dipika revealed that she thought it feels out of order to see Govil playing any other role in Ramayana other than the role of Lord Ram.
The actress said, “To see him in a role apart from Ram… I don’t know, I mean, see — I have seen him as Ram and I’ve seen myself as Sita. For me to see him as Dasarath is really a little out of context. But then I guess that’s really his choice. It’s very personal as to how people feel. It’s very difficult to break images. I mean, if you played Ram, then you are Ram.”
Dipika was also asked about if she was approached by the makers to play any role in their adaptation of the epic. She shockingly revealed that she was not approached with any offer and the team didn’t even bother to speak to her. However, the actress stated that she cannot envision herself portraying any other character in the epic other than playing Sita.
She said, “I was never approached. I guess they’ve not even bothered to speak to me about it. Once I played Sita, I don’t think I can play any other character in Ramayan. It’s something I’m not sure about. If I was doing something in Mahabharat or Shiv Puran, I could still give it a thought, but not in a Ramayana film.”
Nitish Tiwari’s rendition of the epic Ramayana will be starring Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Yash as Ravana and Sai Pallavi as Sita. Sunny Deol will be playing the role of Lord Hanuman and Ravi Dubey will be seen in the role of Lakshman. The movie project is set for a two-part release with the first part scheduled for Diwali next year.
