Ramayana: Part One releases in theatres on November 5.
Nitesh Tiwari directed the two-part saga that stars Ranbir Kapoor, Yash and Sai Pallavi.
Kapoor had drawn a comparison between Ramayana's flying vehicle, Pushpak Viman and Elon Musk's Roadster.
In a promotional discussion for Ramayana alongside director Nitesh Tiwari and co-stars Yash, Ravi Dubey and Rakul Preet Singh, Ranbir Kapoor drew a sharp line between ancient lore and modern tech. Speaking with host Suma, the Animal actor noted that while Elon Musk is only now unveiling a flying car with the Tesla Roadster, Indian mythology had already teased the concept thousands of years ago with the Pushpaka Viman in the epic.
"Elon Musk recently invented a flying car. I think India did it 5,000 years ago!" Kapoor quipped, referring to the Pushpak Viman.
In the same interview, director Nitesh Tiwari also shared that it took around two years to build the Pushpak Viman.
Tiwari said, "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."
Elon Musk's Flying Car Boast
During a mid-October reveal, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s revamped Roadster 2, boasting of it as the world’s first flying automobile powered by SpaceX rocket technology.
At a live showcase held at SpaceX’s Texas testing center, the two-seater sports car executed an extraordinary stunt, driving upside down across a giant curved ramp, flipping mid-air, and landing safely. Musk, who confirmed the thruster-equipped vehicle accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in under a second and is slated for 2028 production, offered a characteristically wry review: "Well, it worked."
According to Hindu legend, the divine architect Vishwakarma originally forged the Pushpak Viman, for Lord Brahma, who later bestowed it upon Kubera, the deity of wealth. After conquering his half-brother Kubera, Ravana seized the vessel for himself.
The Ramayana depicts this legendary craft as an infinitely expandable flying structure capable of moving at the speed of thought. The movie's trailer prominently highlights this massive celestial vessel, offering a tantalising peek into how the filmmakers have re-imagined the ancient legend.
The multi-lingual movie adaptation is scheduled for a global release on November 5, 2026, across Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam markets.
