Aug 17, 2026 5:30pm IST
‘Ramayana’ Actor Chetan Hansraj On The Film’s VFX: ‘I Just Looked At The Scenes In Amazement’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Chetan Hansraj is excited to be a part of Nitesh Tiwari’s “Ramayana,” playing Mali, Ravana’s (Yash) grandfather. The actor also owns an AI studio that works extensively on TV serials, including “Naagin 7.” In a conversation with Variety India, he shares that working on “Ramayana” felt like being a kid in a candy store. Explaining why the film’s technicalities felt familiar to him, Hansraj says, “For me, it was fabulous because I work on Unreal Engine (3D Creation Tool) as well. The entire preview of the movie was done on Unreal Engine. The technicians I interacted with were top-of-the-line from a VFX point of view. When I asked one of them how the technology used in ‘Ramayana’ compares to that in Hollywood, he said that ours is faster. What we are doing over here is better than what they use in Hollywood.”
On how he prepared for his role, the actor says he looked up different versions of the Ramayana online to understand what kind of character Mali was. He also recalls how the team behind “Ramayana” was driven by a quest for perfection. He tells Variety India, “I have done many shows that revolve around these epics before this, which helped me gather knowledge about this. I brought all my experience into it. Every time I was giving a shot, my thought was that it has to be perfect.”
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Giving an insight into his opening fight sequence of “Ramayana,” he elaborates, “Terry Notary was the action director for that sequence. He said, ‘Chetan, we’ve got some great shots, but we should get some better shots. We have gold, but we’re chasing a diamond.’ During the filming of ‘Ramayana,’ I learned a lot about myself as an actor. When you work with a Hollywood crew, you understand their way of thinking and how they extract performances. We learn how to apply those techniques.”
He adds, “As actors, we tend to emote a lot, but sometimes it helps to be a bit subtle. First of all, the animation. I am a total geek for that, and there were times when I just looked at the scenes in amazement. I wanted to do my best as ‘Ramayana’ is our epic.”
Hansraj says every actor on the set felt a responsibility to deliver their best. He also lauds Namit Malhotra for taking the epic to a global audience. He says, “The team has the best actors and technicians from all over the world. It is an emotional epic because it is associated with our social and cultural fabric.”
However, Hansraj says actors cannot take on the pressure of the film’s budget. He states, “I don’t think about it. My job is to do my best with what is supplied to me. The only thought was to deliver at a level that my work will be remembered for a long, long time. Around 4,000 people are working on this film, including a VFX team that is on it 24x7.”
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