At the Hyderabad pre-release event for Ramayana on October 19, Yash made an appeal that was less about a single film than about the next decade of Indian cinema. The actor, who plays Ravana and is also a co-producer, asked audiences not to let small visual-effects imperfections overshadow the film’s larger ambition.
“Please don’t try to find small faults of VFX, this, that. It will never happen again. If we lose people like him (Namit Malhotra) now, it will take more years. We will go back. So let’s see with an open mind,” Yash said, referring to producer Namit Malhotra.
A producer’s survival, not a VFX defence
The argument Yash made was economic rather than aesthetic. He did not deny that flaws exist; he asked that they be weighed against what the production is attempting. His concern, as he told the audience, is that losing producers like Malhotra could push the industry backward by years.
“Anybody can make a movie. Anybody can dream of making a film. But only a few people will have that kind of passion, dedication, determination and madness. As Indians, I am telling you, we need to protect this guy. It’s our responsibility,” he said.
Why the framing matters
The request lands in an online culture where a single flawed frame can become a meme before a film’s narrative is judged. For a title with Ramayana‘s scale, that dynamic carries consequences beyond one review cycle. Yash tied the audience’s response directly to the willingness of future producers to fund large-canvas Indian storytelling.
Recounting conversations with Malhotra in Los Angeles, Yash described a producer who already had international success but remained unsatisfied with Indian cinema’s global standing. According to Yash, Malhotra said the day he would be happy is when the Indian industry is placed at that level. That, Yash said, is why he agreed to play Ravana and join as producing partner.
- The request: watch the film with an open mind instead of hunting for small VFX faults.
- The stakes: if Malhotra-class producers retreat, the industry could lose years of progress.
- The larger bet: Indian cinema’s placement on the global stage, not just a Diwali box-office result.
What audiences should take from the appeal
For our readers, the useful lens is proportion. Craft scrutiny is legitimate; so is the judgment of whether a film’s overall swing works. Yash is asking for the second kind of evaluation, and making it a condition of future ambition. That does not mean ignoring technical quality. It means not allowing an isolated imperfection to stand in for the whole.
The film arrives at a moment when Hindi cinema is again testing whether mythology can be mounted at global scale. The audience’s response may send a signal about whether such bets are worth taking again.
Source: Mid-day
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