06 April,2026 07:29 AM IST | Mumbai | Priyanka Sharma
Ranbir Kapoor in the film
Remember Paresh Rawal screaming âTeja main hoon, mark idhar hai' in Andaz Apna Apna (1994)? Saket Patel, one of the junior artistes in Ramayana: Part 1, went through something similar, telling the internet, "Yeh character main hoon, turban idhar hai."
In a sequence from Ramayana's teaser that shows Ranbir Kapoor flanked by large crowds, eagle-eyed fans spotted that a character's turban changed colour from blue to purple as the shot transitioned from wide to close-up. That was enough for the internet to declare that the crowd was AI-generated.
"There is no need for AI to create a crowd," Patel told mid-day over a call. He also viewed the incident as an opportunity to own the narrative. "When the shot was in the teaser, I was happy. But when everybody started talking about the colour change in the turban, I thought, âLet me just go out and tell people that I exist,'" he said.
Saket Patel
Patel recalled that filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari shot the sequence two years ago at Film City. "I got to know that the makers were looking for people for a crowd sequence and went in as an extra," he said, adding that the scene featured around 500 artistes. "The shoot went on for a half a day. Ranbir remained in character. So, he was not interacting with anybody other than the director and the team. It was a large set. It's not a green screen, as people are claiming it is."