Abhay Arora on portraying Parshuram in Ramayana: ‘Idea was to put Ranbir’s face on mine’

Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana offers audiences a grand retelling of the Hindu epic, featuring Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana. While there has been immense curiosity about Ranbir playing a double role as Lord Ram and Parshuram, actor Abhay Arora has now revealed that he played the latter alongside Ranbir. He also played one of Maa Sita’s suitors in the visual spectacle.

In an exclusive conversation with SCREEN, Abhay opened up about how he and Ranbir jointly brought the character of Lord Parshuram to life. He also explained the creative decision behind using his performance while retaining Ranbir’s face.

Abhay Arora reveals how he portrayed Parshuram alongside Ranbir Kapoor

Talking about the scene between Lord Rama and Lord Parshuram, Abhay Arora shared that the makers wanted to establish a visual connection between Lord Vishnu’s avatars, Lord Parshuram and Lord Ram. This creative decision had been taken even before he was cast in the film.

He said, “Ranbir and I have given the same performance, same dialogues, same emotions. Everything was just the same, and we performed it together. The creative idea was that the makers wanted to show the relevance between Vishnu’s sixth and the seventh avatar, which is bhagwan Parshuram, bhagwan Ram and bhagwan Vishnu. So, they wanted to show the similarities of the faces, and hence, this call was taken even before I was cast. When I was cast, they told me, ‘You actually look like bhagwan Parshuram in it, from what we have seen. But, now we have taken a creative call, and would you still like to do this?’ And, I wanted to contribute to the film. The idea was to put Ranbir’s face on me and keep both the performances. So, they have kept some of the shots which are completely mine, and some of the shots which are Ranbir’s. It is not just a body double, it’s a complete performance, which is the same.”

Abhay further revealed that most of the portions that the audiences see on screen were actually performed by him. He said, “It’s me who is sitting and giving the bow, wherever Ranbir is standing, it’s all my shots. It was a part of the agreement between the makers and me that they will have to show the relevance between the avatars of Bhagwan Vishnu.”

Explaining how the two performances were eventually brought together, he added, “Performance wise, it was identical. I had performed it a day before and then we did the blocking, we did all the discussions and then it was performed later by him (Ranbir), and then later on, they merged both the performances.”

He also pointed out the difference between performing a character and merely standing in for another actor. Abhay said, “Generally, it is given the term of a body double but a body double doesn’t have to perform, give the lines or perform the emotions.”

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Abhay Arora calls working on Ramayana and Dhurandhar a dream come true

Abhay Arora was also a part of Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, where he played Yasir Arafat. Speaking about being associated with two major cinematic projects, the actor recalled how he travelled between the two film sets.

He said, “God has been kind. I was filming Dhurandhar, and straight from the set, I flew from Bangkok to Bombay, and next morning, I was playing Parshuram. After four days, I was back in Bangkok, playing Yasir Arafat (his character in Dhurandhar). It was nothing less than a dream come true. I was working on Ramayana even before Dhurandhar came into my life. To get Ramayana as my first film, is truly god’s blessing. I am the only actor in India to be a part of both, Dhurandhar and Ramayana. I consider this to be a great start to my career as an actor.”

Speaking warmly about his work experience with Ranbir Kapoor, he said, “Ranbir and I, we shot it together, and we were together while filming Lord Parshuram’s character. It’s amazing interacting with him. As an artiste, as an actor, he was very helpful. He had his inputs. We had some great interactions about lifestyle, work, bhagwan Parshuram, and a lot more. We were filming together for about four days.”

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The actor also had an opportunity to interact with Arun Govil, who plays Lord Dashrath in the film. Recalling their meeting, Abhay said, “I also had great interaction with our ‘Prabhu Ram’ (referring to Govil’s character in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana) Arun Govil sir. I had a great privilege to speak to him about all his experiences. In fact, it was his last day, and he was joining as the member of Parliament the next day. I was just in awe of that man, and he’s not just a man for us, he is a legend.”