Ranbir Kapoor went fully vegetarian to play Lord Rama

Ranbir Kapoor’s preparation for Lord Rama in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Rise of a Legend went far beyond the script, according to his on-screen mother. Actor Indira Krishnan, who plays Queen Kaushalya, says the star turned fully vegetarian and followed a tightly controlled daily routine throughout the shoot.

What Indira Krishnan saw on set

In an interview with Filmygyan, Krishnan said Ranbir kept to a strict vegetarian path during the film’s production. “He was completely a vegetarian in this entire process,” she said. She described seeing fruit plates in his vanity, along with an intense training schedule: roughly three hours of workout in the morning and another two to three hours in the evening.

The actor’s off-screen behaviour also shifted, she added. Krishnan said she saw him working to build Shri Rama both physically and in the way he spoke with people. The two had earlier shared screen space in Animal, and she called him an all-rounder, a fabulous actor and a fabulous father.

The casting backlash the film had to shake off

Before release, a section of the audience was not convinced. A 2011 interview in which Ranbir described himself as a “big beef fan” resurfaced online, and some viewers struggled to see the actor move from the brutal Ranvijay Singh of Animal to Lord Rama. Krishnan pushed back against the trolling, saying she has met people who could not believe Ranbir played the part — but that on set she saw Shri Ram, not Ranbir.

For fans, the claim lands differently now that the film is in theatres. It turns a polarising casting conversation into a more concrete question: did the preparation show up on screen?

The regime that quieted the noise

Krishnan’s account paints a disciplined, almost monastic shooting experience. The details that stood out:

• Fully vegetarian diet, with fruits kept close in his vanity
• Three-hour morning workout and two to three hours of evening training
• A deliberate change in speech and conduct to stay in character
• Regular conversations about his daughter Raha and South Indian food cravings off camera

That level of preparation matters in mythological storytelling, where audiences treat the actor and the deity as deeply connected. A visible physical change can help a sceptical audience accept the performance, even when old interviews linger online.

What comes next for the Ramayana world

Ramayana: Rise of a Legend released theatrically on November 5, 2026. Its global box office now depends on domestic holds and overseas demand. The sequel is scheduled for Diwali 2028, and a post-credits scene has already introduced Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman for the next instalment. Actors Sai Pallavi, Ravie Dubey and Yash round out the epic’s first chapter.

If Krishnan is right, Ranbir did not simply play the role; he rearranged his life around it. That is a strong answer to a fan debate that had followed him for months.

Source: India Today