Nitesh Tiwari's ambitious magnum opus ‘Ramayana’ has reportedly generated business worth thousands of crores within eight days. However, bringing the epic tale to the big screen on such a grand scale required years of planning, research and dedicated hard work.

The film's magnificent sets depicting Ayodhya and Lanka took nearly three years to build. Production designers Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray played a key role in bringing these iconic locations to life.

Sharing details about the set construction, Subrata explained how the makers combined real-life sets with visual effects (VFX) to create realistic cinematic experiences.

Also Read: Meet the Odisha animator behind the visual magic of ‘Ramayana’

For instance, nearly 70 per cent of Ayodhya's throne room was physically constructed, while the remaining 30 per cent was added through VFX. The objective was to make the setting look so realistic that audiences would find it difficult to distinguish between the actual set and computer-generated elements.

Subrata described this as a major achievement for the production team.

The initial design work for the film was carried out with the assistance of a Hollywood team led by Ramsay Avery. While Avery's team provided the initial design concepts, Subrata and Amit gave the settings a distinctly Indian touch.

Soft and soothing colours were selected to portray Ayodhya as a peaceful, beautiful and prosperous kingdom.
 

In contrast, Lanka was designed to symbolise arrogance and ego. Creating a visually appealing representation of the vast forests was also a major challenge for the production team.

Subrata described the film's visual development as a highly mathematical process, explaining that even minor errors in calculations could affect the VFX and make the scenes appear artificial.

The team therefore paid close attention to mathematical precision before developing the visual effects to ensure that every scene looked convincing and realistic on screen.

The extensive planning and combination of physical sets and advanced VFX reflect the scale of the cinematic effort behind ‘Ramayana’.