When a film marks a defining milestone in your son-in-law’s career, most industry veterans might be expected to occupy a seat at its star-studded premiere. But Mahesh Bhatt chose a different experience. As Nitesh Tiwari’s ambitious epic, Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, arrived in theatres, the veteran filmmaker reportedly skipped the premiere, opting instead to watch the film at a regular multiplex alongside fellow moviegoers.
Speaking to Variety India, Bhatt opened up about his deep emotional connection with the epic, tracing it back to childhood bedtime stories narrated by his mother. He recalled, “Before I saw Rama on a screen, I knew him through my mother’s voice. She told my brother, my sisters and me about the ‘Ramayana’. I was a child. I did not understand all of it, but it entered my consciousness. At 12, I saw ‘Sampoorna Ramayana’, produced by Homi Wadia and directed by Babubhai Mistry, that wizard of bygone days. I wept when Sita pleaded with Mother Earth to take her back into her womb. She had been banished from Ayodhya after the Agni Pariksha. She had given birth to Luv and Kush and lived alone. I felt the cruelty of it then. I still do.”
Explaining why he chose to stay away from the red carpet and watch Ranbir Kapoor’s portrayal of Lord Ram in a regular cinema hall, Bhatt said, “I have seen the new ‘Ramayana’, but stayed away from the premiere. I wanted to sit in a cinema hall among strangers and have that private, shared experience of watching a film. The mall I went to watch the film at looked nothing like the India I grew up in. Then the lights went down, and there was the ‘Ramayana’ again, unfolding before us in 3-D.”
Bhatt’s reflections reveal that his connection with the epic goes beyond its cinematic interpretations. From the stories he heard as a child to watching a new adaptation unfold on the big screen, the experience appears to have brought back memories and emotions that have stayed with him for decades.
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