Aarya Babbar Questions Yash’s Ravana Look in Ramayana
Aarya Babbar defends Saif Ali Khan's Adipurush Ravana but questions whether Yash's Ramayana look is truly new. Here's what he said.
Aarya Babbar has entered the Ramayana conversation with a clear line: Saif Ali Khan’s Ravana deserved more grace, but Yash’s Ravana needs to show something we have not seen before. The actor, who is currently playing Ravana in the stage production Mahabali, shared his view in a new interview with Variety India.
The Saif defence
Babbar pushed back on the criticism that chased Adipurush. For him, a villain’s performance is not only the actor’s responsibility. “An actor is only as good as the director’s perception and interpretation,” he said, arguing that Saif’s look and intensity were shaped by the film’s direction.
He called Saif “very good as Ravana” and said the performance brought “a different kind of intensity” to the part. That distinction matters for fans who debate where acting ends and filmmaking begins.
Why Yash’s look is being questioned
When the conversation turned to Yash, Babbar was more guarded. He said it was too early to judge the performance, but the first look did not convince him that the character feels fresh. Apart from the costumes, he saw “pretty much the same beard that he’s had in KGF before.”
Babbar contrasted that with Toxic, where he noticed a new Yash. For Ramayana, he is still waiting for that reveal. He also read the film as a deliberate play for an international audience, not just Indian fans, and said that ambition is visible in Nitesh Tiwari’s approach.
- Saif Ali Khan’s Adipurush Ravana was “very good” in Babbar’s view because it was a director’s interpretation.
- Yash’s Ramayana look, he argues, repeats the KGF beard rather than introducing a new character.
- Babbar’s stage Ravana in Mahabali will be, he promises, “absolutely different” from both films.
What this means for the epic
The comments do not reduce the scale of Ramayana. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, the two-part film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, with Sai Pallavi, Ravi Dubey, Sunny Deol, Arun Govil, Lara Dutta, Rakul Preet Singh, Vivek Oberoi and Shobana in key roles. Backed by Namit Malhotra and Yash, it is reported to be mounted at ₹4,000 crore and will open with its first part on November 5, 2026.
Ravana is one of Hindi cinema’s most scrutinised mythological parts, so every look and casting choice becomes a public conversation. For fans, Babbar’s comments put the focus back on the hardest job in the film: making an iconic villain feel like a character, not a callback to a previous blockbuster.
Source: Hindustan Times
The room talks
0 comments