Namit Malhotra's Ramayana: Part I is on everyone's mind right now. As cinephiles continue to run back to theatres, the film continues to earn crores. The film released on November 5, and it has already minted around INR 1,000 crore worldwide within its first 8 days of release.
Among all the talking points of the film, including the outfits and jewellery, one of the key details in the film was Lord Rama and Lakshman's armour which they sported during their exile.
In one of the key scenes, when Lord Rama, Lakshman, and Sita prepare to fight the giant army of Khar and Dushan, actors Ranbir Kapoor and Ravie Dubey, who play Rama and Lakshman, respectively, are shown putting on armours made of cane and rubber.
Costume designer Ajay Kumar and his team collaborated with Barpeta-based artisan Jaynal Abdin to develop the basic structure of the armour, which brought in the state's indigenous craftsmanship to a major cinematic production.
Master artisan Jaynal Abdin, who hails from Jania Banglipara village in Barpeta district, led a team of 15 locals and crafted 30-35 pieces by hand over 3-3.5 years.
Speaking to ANI, Jaynal shared that the Ramayana team did not reach out to him directly, rather he was approached for the project by Abdul Malek, from Jania's local organisation, Gram Unnayan. Adbul called Jaynal over and said that a project had come in and asked the latter to come and take a look. All they received was a file containing the drawings and designs.
After examining the drawings, Jaynal confirmed that he could make the armour and discussed it with his team leader. "Soon after, 5-6 members from their team arrived here, and a member named Sagar stayed back with us to help oversee the measurements and corrections," he added.
Designing high-intensity action armour for the cast proved challenging. Initial fitting flaws sent the pieces back for adjustments, but even after refitting, the pure cane construction remained too rigid, severely restricting movement.
"After we fixed the initial cuts, they made the main actor of the film wear it, and he said it was very hard and tight, which cane naturally is. They asked what alternative material could be used. I told them we could craft it from whatever material they provided," recalled Abdin.
He shared that the Ramayana team got back to him with black and green rubber. However, weaving rubber did not work out either. "When I spoke to costume designer Ajay, I suggested using half cane and half rubber. He agreed and asked us to make one sample," the Assam-based artisan remembered.
Once the hybrid cane-and-rubber design got the green light, artisans raced against tight deadlines to deliver the final batch of armour. "The work was continuous; sometimes there would be no news for three to six months, and then suddenly a call would come asking for eight or 10 pieces on very short notice before shooting resumed," Jaynal told the agency.
But the interesting part is, when the artisans were working on the armour, they had no clue that were making the pieces for Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana. "They only told us it was for a film shoot and assured us that our work would bring us recognition later. Now that the film has been released, we finally know the truth," the artisan concluded.
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