Yash Shares Son's Reaction to His Ravana Role in Ramayana

Mumbai, October 31: South star Yash is currently in the news for his role in Nitesh Tiwari's upcoming film Ramayana, where he plays Ravana. While preparing for the part, the actor revealed a memorable conversation with his young son that highlighted the challenges of explaining a villainous character to a child.

Yash said his son already knows who his father is, yet he was astonished when he discovered that his father would not be playing Lord Ram. The idea that his father would portray the antagonist of the story was difficult for the boy to process.

After understanding the storyline of Ramayana, the child was clearly shocked. ‘No, you are a bad man,’ he told his father. ‘How can you do this?’ Yash said he had to patiently explain that a story can only be understood properly when all its characters are presented on screen.

Yash recalled telling his son, ‘Lord Ram is the central character whom you should follow as your ideal. Everyone must walk the path of Ram. Ravana may seem powerful and influential, but true and lasting victory comes only when you live by dharma and choose the right path, as Ram did. I told him he could cheer for me in the theatre as an actor, but he should never make my character his role model.’

He added that his son then asked a question that caught him off guard. The boy wanted to know whether Ravana is defeated and dies at the end of the story.

Yash said, ‘He asked me, “Do you die at the end of the film? Do you lose?” That question was a bit tough for me. When I accepted this film, my only goal was to give my audience a fantastic performance. I never expected to face such questions from my son. Explaining the difference between an actor and his character was a new experience for me.’

The Ramayana directed by Nitesh Tiwari is based on the Indian epic and has already generated a lot of conversation among fans. Ranbir Kapoor is cast as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita, and Yash as Ravana. Sunny Deol, Ravi Dubey, Rakul Preet Singh, Arun Govil, Lara Dutta, Vivek Oberoi and Anupam Kher are also part of the film.

The movie will be released in two parts. The first part arrives on November 5 this year, while the second part is slated for release during Diwali next year.