Oscar Winning-music composer AR Rahman has described director Nitesh Tiwari’s upcoming mythological epic ‘Ramayana’ as the most exciting and biggest film he has worked on in his career. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Yash and Sai Pallavi, with Rahman and international composer Hans Zimmer collaborating on its music.AR Rahman said the project has taken nearly three and a half years to develop. With around 70 per cent of the album already released, including the track ‘Jai Jai Ram’, the composer says more musical surprises are on the way.He said, “This is the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on. I’ve never done such a big movie ever in my life. It’s a good time now, because we worked on this for almost three and a half years. And now, it’s nice to see the response. ‘Jai Jai Ram’ is out, and almost 70 percent of the album is released. We have some surprises coming up next.”The composer also praised the film’s visual effects, which are being handled by DNEG. He revealed that he had recently watched the first two reels and was impressed by what he saw.“Their work is extraordinary. I just saw some footage, the first two reels. I was blown away,” he added.
AR Rahman working with Hans Zimmer
The film marks the long-awaited collaboration between Rahman and Hans Zimmer. Their association goes back to 2009, and Zimmer invited Rahman to perform at the Oscars in 2012. The ‘Luka Chuppi’ recalled the excitement of finally working together on ‘Ramayana’.“There was a very friendly vibe when I went back to his studio. He was very excited that finally we were working together,” he said.Their musical sessions took place across London, Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi. Rahman said the team went through several versions of the music before settling on the final compositions.“Sometimes we had to go through 13 different iterations to come back to the second or the first iteration,” he explained. He described the process as exhausting but rewarding.
AR Rahman proud to take Indian culture to the world
Rahman said composing for Ramayana involved coordinating music with visual effects, multiple languages and different versions of the film. He also recalled an intense final three months that involved constant travel between Los Angeles, London, Budapest, Mumbai and Chennai, sometimes leaving the team with only three or four hours of sleep.Despite the demanding schedule, Rahman said he was proud to be part of a project that presents Indian culture to international audiences.
AR Rahman calls ‘Ramayana’ his biggest film
“I’m really proud of the fact that this is probably the biggest movie I’ve ever done in my career. And it looks incredibly good. I’m really proud that we are able to take a culture from this land to present to the world where Sony is distributing 70,000 screens for the first time…and I’m a part of it,” he said.‘Ramayana’ features Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana. The ensemble cast also includes Ravi Dubey as Lakshman and Sunny Deol as Hanuman. Other actors in the film include Arun Govil as Dasharatha, Lara Dutta as Kaikeyi, Rakul Preet Singh as Surpanakha, Sheeba Chaddha as Manthara and Adinath Kothare as Bharat.The film is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on November 5, 2026.
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