Marathi actor Adinath Kothare on Friday said working in Nitesh Tiwari’s much-anticipated film Ramayana was a “life transforming” experience. Kothare plays the role of Bharat in the upcoming magnum opus.

Ramayana stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, KGF star Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Goddess Sita, Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman and Ravie Dubey as Lord Lakshman.

“It was a life transforming journey, the whole setup, and experience. Unfortunately, I'll not be able to speak much in detail about the character because the cast has not been officially introduced but the cat's out of the bag and everyone's aware,” Kothare said.

“It's one of the greatest most privileged opportunities that an actor could get and to witness a cinema of that scale being made on Indian soil and to be a part of this team was a very educating and humbling experience,” the actor told PTI.

Kothare, who has earlier worked in Kabir Khan’s 83, said he felt “honoured” to be part of an ambitious project like Ramayana and to work alongside a high-profile ensemble cast.

"It is one of the greatest and biggest ensemble feature films of Indian cinema that we’ve seen in a long time,” he said. “I was excited. I had butterflies when I was on the floor and sharing screen space with one of the greatest of Indian cinema and sharing a screen space with the likes of Ranbir and all these fine people. But I was very, very excited. It was an amazing experience.”

A well-known name in Marathi cinema, Kothare has featured in acclaimed films such as Paani, Zapatlela, Majha Chakula, and Avatarachi Goshta.

Kothare also revealed that prior to Ramayana, he had auditioned for Tiwari’s 2023 production Tarla, a biopic on Indian chef and author Tarla Dalal. He had tested for the role of actor Huma Qureshi’s husband, which eventually went to Sharib Hashmi.

“I had auditioned at Mukesh Chabbra’s office for Ramayana and had been shortlisted for one of Nitesh sir's films a year-and-a-half ago. It was a very beautiful film and I wished I could have gotten that part but I'm happy with the way it turned out. I think that's where Nitesh sir saw my work,” he added.

Ramayana, a two-part live-action saga, is produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios and DNEG, in association with Yash’s Monster Mind Creations. Oscar-winning composers A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer will be scoring the music for the film.

The first part is scheduled for a worldwide IMAX release during Diwali 2026, followed by the second part in Diwali 2027.