Ranbir Kapoor's Ramayana Title Sparks Debate As Industrialist Calls For Use Of 'Ramayan'

Ranbir Kapoor’s upcoming mythological film Ramayana has stirred controversy after industrialist Nikhil Chitale demanded it be titled Ramayan to preserve Indian cultural and linguistic authenticity. The debate over anglicized vs native spellings like Ram vs Rama and Mahabharat vs Mahabharata gained traction on social media, drawing mixed reactions from netizens. Starring Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Yash as Ravana, and Sai Pallavi as Sita, the Diwali 2026 release is backed by Namit Malhotra, with music by A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer.

(Image: Left:IMDb; Right: X)

Mumbai: As the makers of Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, and Sai Pallavi starrer "Ramayana" shared the initial glimpse from the magnum opus on Thursday, industrialist and one of the owners of the Chitale group, Nikhil Chitale has raised a question on the title of the movie. 

He pointed out that it should be "Ramayan" and not "Ramayana".

Expressing his displeasure, Nikhil urged all to stop anglicizing words like Ramayan and Ram.

Stating that our rich heritage does not require a colonial accent, he wrote on his X (previously known as Twitter) timeline, "It’s Ramayan, not Ramayana. It’s Ram, not Rama. We need to avoid the anglicization of our words. Our heritage doesn’t need a colonial accent. It’s written by Valmiki, FYI."

It’s Ramayan, not Ramayana. It’s Ram, not Rama. We need to avoid the anglicization of our words. Our heritage doesn’t need a colonial accent.

It’s written by Valmiki, FYI.

— Nikhil Chitale (@nikhilchitale) July 4, 2025

Some netizens supported him saying, "That's a really important point about preserving the authenticity of our heritage." and "Correct Similarly, it's Mahabharat not Mahabharata; Yog not Yoga; Dharm not Dharma, Itihaas not Itihaasa and so on...Others did not agree with him.

However, others disagreed with the businessman's point of view.

One of the users commented, "That's not anglicization. Kannada adds an 'a' at the end of almost every word and that's not influenced by English. For Kannadigas it is always 'Ramayana', 'Rama', 'Mahabharatha', 'Ganesha', 'Arjuna', 'Bheema'."

Another one penned, "The pronunciations are Rama and Ramayana in sanskrit. Agreed that if the movie is made in hindi then they should've kept the hindi pronunciation spellings."

The initial glimpse of the forthcoming mythological drama which was released in multiple Indian cities on Thursday was very well received by movie buffs, raising further excitement for the release of the drama during Diwali 2026.

Backed by eight times Oscar winner Namit Malhotra, "Ramayana" will feature Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Mata Sita, Yash as Ravana, Sunny Deol as Hanuman, and Ravi Dubey as Lakshman.

The tunes for the drama have been provided by not one but two Oscar-winning composers - Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman. 'Mad Max: Fury Road' fame stunt director Guy Norris, has choreographed the action sequences of the drama along with Terry Notary, known for his work in "Avengers", and "Planet of the Apes".