Ramayana: Sai Pallavi’s Sita Will Have Action Scenes
Nitesh Tiwari says the Adbhut Ramayan's warrior-princess Sita inspired Sai Pallavi's action scenes, while Lord Ram and scripture stay untouched.
The first part of Ramayana is days from its worldwide release, and director Nitesh Tiwari is already clarifying one of the film’s most-watched choices: Sita will not be a passive figure. Speaking at the Los Angeles premiere, Tiwari confirmed that Sai Pallavi’s Goddess Sita will have her own action sequences, a decision drawn from the Adbhut Ramayan, where Sita appears as a warrior princess.
A warrior princess, not a departure
Tiwari was careful to explain the logic. While many tellings of the epic present Sita in a devotional light, the Adbhut Ramayan carries a different strain. “She, in Adbhut Ramayan, is portrayed as a warrior princess,” Tiwari said. “That element we took from there, which kind of adds nice dimension to her as a character.”
Of Sita’s arc, Tiwari added simply: “She does have action in hers too.”
The line between liberty and scripture
What makes the reveal notable is how precisely Tiwari has drawn the boundary. When it comes to Lord Ram, no creative liberty applies. “In every version which we have in our country, he is Lord Ram,” Tiwari explained. Sita, however, has the warrior-princess tradition to lean on.
The freedoms, Tiwari said, live in the world around the characters rather than in the canon itself.
- How Ayodhya, Lanka and Mithila look
- The design of the flying Airavat and the demon races
- The styling of the Pushpak Viman
- How Ram fights the demons and how action is choreographed
“This is where we have taken certain liberties,” Tiwari said. “Otherwise, we have stuck to the scripture and we have remained honest.”
The package around it
Adapted from Valmiki’s epic, Ramayana: Part 1 – Rise of a Legend is the first of two planned films. Ranbir Kapoor leads as Lord Rama, opposite Sai Pallavi as Sita, with Yash as Ravana, Sunny Deol as Hanuman and Ravie Dubey as Lakshman. Prime Focus Studios and Monster Mind Creations produce, with visuals from DNEG and music by Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman.
The film opens worldwide on November 5, 2026, in standard and IMAX formats.
Why the distinction matters
For audiences, the framing answers a real anxiety around big-canvas retellings: what gets preserved and what gets reimagined. Tiwari’s approach separates the spiritual core from the spectacle, which may be the smartest way to serve both. It gives fans of the source text a promise of fidelity where it counts, while giving the scale room to move.
Source: Bollywood Hungama
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