Ranbir Kapoor has drawn a striking comparison between the mythical Pushpak Viman from the Ramayana and Elon Musk’s latest Tesla Roadster, saying India had imagined a flying vehicle thousands of years before modern technology. “Elon Musk recently invented a flying car. I think India did it 5,000 years ago!” the actor remarked.
According to NDTV, Kapoor made the comment during a special interview with television presenter Suma on her Chat Show. His co-stars Ravi Dubey, Rakul Preet Singh and Yash, along with director Nitesh Tiwari, also joined the conversation. They discussed the film’s fantastical elements, weapons and the team’s efforts to reimagine them for the screen.
Kapoor, who plays Lord Rama, brought up Musk while discussing the epic’s ancient inventions. He used the Pushpak Viman, the flying chariot described in the Ramayana, to draw a comparison with the Tesla vehicle.
During the same interview, Tiwari revealed that the team spent nearly two years developing the Pushpak Viman’s design. The process involved several changes, which also affected the choreography of the fight between Ravana and Jatayu.
“It took us close to two years to arrive at the final design, and a lot changed along the way. That’s why we took so much time to create the Ravana and Jatayu fight. When we were working on the earlier design of the Pushpaka Vimana, we’d imagined it would look a certain way, so the fight was choreographed accordingly. However, once we finalised a slightly different design for the Vimana, we had to go through several iterations to make it fit the existing choreography,” Tiwari said.
In Hindu mythology, the Pushpak Viman could travel at the speed of thought and expand to accommodate as many passengers as necessary. The enormous flying vehicle also appears in the film’s trailer, offering a glimpse of the production’s visual interpretation.
The comparison has also brought renewed attention to Tesla’s next-generation Roadster. Musk unveiled the long-delayed electric sports car at an event in Waco, Texas, on 15 October, nearly a decade after first revealing the new version.
At a demonstration at SpaceX’s rocket development and testing facility, the vehicle travelled upside down along a large curved ramp before flipping in the air and landing safely. Musk summed up the demonstration with a brief remark: “Well, it worked.”
According to Hindu mythology, Vishwakarma, the celestial architect, created the Viman for Lord Brahma. Brahma later gifted it to Kubera, the god of wealth and Ravana’s half-brother. Ravana seized the Pushpak Viman from Kubera after defeating him.
