‘Ramayana’: ‘Ranbir Kapoor Did a Considerable Amount of Action Himself,’ Says Stunt Double Luke Ioannou (EXCLUSIVE)

Ranbir Kapoor took on one of the biggest challenges of his career when he agreed to play Lord Rama in Nitesh Tiwari’s “Ramayana.” While he was preparing for the role, bringing the ambitious action sequences to life required close collaboration with a team of stunt performers. In a conversation with Variety India, Kapoor’s stunt double Luke Ioannou opens up about working with the actor, their approach to action scenes and the challenges of filming the massive project.

Ioannou shares that Kapoor was deeply involved in understanding the movements required for different sequences. He says, “Ranbir was very keen to perform as much of his own action as possible, and he genuinely did a considerable amount himself. We had a variety of setups to work through, all with different levels of complexity, and he was always willing to get involved wherever it was safe and practical. I was really impressed by his physical ability and his commitment to work.”

Related Stories

‘Ramayana’ actor Saurabh Sachdeva: ‘Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi Had the Toughest Job’ (EXCLUSIVE)

‘Ramayana’ Production Designer Subrata Chakraborty on Building Ayodhya and Lanka: ‘We Wanted Viewers to Be Unable to Tell What Was Set and What Was VFX’ (EXCLUSIVE)

He adds that his role was to make the high-octane action sequences appear seamless. “There are certain stunts where the technical demands or risks make it more sensible for a specialist performer to step in, particularly when you’re working within a demanding filming schedule. That’s where my role came in. Alongside the incredible rigging, VFX and wider stunt teams, we could work collaboratively to achieve the action while managing the risks involved. The goal was never to take the action away from Ranbir. It was to help him do as much as possible himself and then use the expertise of the wider team to achieve everything else. He deserves a lot of credit for the amount of work he put in and how professionally he approached the entire process,” Ioannou explains.

Kapoor and Ioannou also had regular discussions about the action sequences. “It was an incredibly collaborative process. Ranbir and I would regularly discuss the action and how best to approach particular movements or sequences. One thing I really appreciated about him was how humble and receptive he was. He genuinely wanted the best possible result and was always willing to listen to my experience and expertise as a stunt performer,” he shares.

While he hasn’t seen the final movie, the stuntman says the “scale and variety of the action presented some really interesting challenges.” “We were working with numerous set pieces within the forest environment, each had its physical and technical demands. The production team did an incredible job creating these environments, and every new setup brought something different for us to work with. It often felt like solving a puzzle. We’d arrive at a particular set piece, assess the physical challenges, work out how to achieve the movement safely and then develop the action around what was possible.”

He adds, “The schedule was demanding, so we didn’t always have the luxury of extensive rehearsal time. That meant everyone had to be adaptable, creative and efficient. For me, the challenge wasn’t necessarily one individual stunt, but the sheer variety of different setups and the need to consistently find solutions under time pressure. It was demanding work, but incredibly rewarding.”