Anupam Kher may be a veteran performer, but voicing Jatayu in Nitesh Tiwari’s ‘Ramayana’ pushed him into unfamiliar territory. The actor says one of the character’s most emotional lines, ‘Hey Ram’, took nearly 200 attempts to get right, as he worked to capture the pain and helplessness of the brave bird’s final moments.

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In a conversation with Variety India, Kher recalled his first look at the film’s footage and how its scale left him so overwhelmed that he decided to postpone his dubbing session. After being shown around eight to 10 minutes of a sequence, including Jatayu’s portions, he felt he needed time to process what he had seen.

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“I cancelled dubbing on the first day. They showed me 8 to 10 minutes of one of the film’s sequences and I was completely blown away. Then they showed me the Jatayu portions. I said, ‘No, let me just take a break’,” he said.

Jatayu’s pivotal sequence follows his battle with Ravana, played by Yash, as he attempts to save Sita, portrayed by Sai Pallavi. Despite his courage, the aging bird fails to rescue her and is left gravely wounded. Kher says communicating the character’s grief, exhaustion and bravery demanded more than simply matching the visuals.

“He is pained that he could not rescue Sitaji. So all those emotions were very tough,” the actor explained.

Kher approached the role as an emotional performance in its own right, rather than a conventional dubbing assignment. He described Jatayu as an old but courageous bird who has just fought a formidable battle and is facing death. For such a moment, he felt the performance had to come from a deeper place.

“It’s a bird who is brave, who is dying, who is old, who has just been in such a spectacular fight with Ravana. So there are some things where you have to involve your soul and heart,” he said.

Anupam Kher tried ‘Hey Ram’ nearly 200 times

Kher worked with Tiwari during the dubbing sessions, with producer Namit Malhotra also joining one of them. The actor pointed out that the process was different from his earlier experience dubbing for the animated film ‘Up’, where he could refer to the original actor’s performance.

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For Jatayu, the emotional register had to be found through the director's vision and the circumstances of the scene. Tiwari wanted the bond between Jatayu and Lord Rama to feel deeply personal, making the bird’s failure to protect Sita even more affecting.

Kher said the brief line ‘Hey Ram’ became one of the most demanding parts of the assignment. Despite its brevity, he had to keep experimenting until the voice matched the emotional weight of the moment.

“Especially the ‘Hey Ram’ in the end… I must have tried that at least 200 times. Because it’s a small line and one has heard it and said it. But the sound and the voice needed to be apt as per the situation,” he recalled.

The actor also shared an anecdote that underlined the sequence’s emotional impact beyond the dubbing studio. He said he was told about a conversation involving Yash’s son, Yatharv, who questioned why his father had killed Jatayu.

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“Yash’s son told him, ‘Why did you kill this bird?’ This is why it’s important to do a great job,” Kher said.

The response, he suggested, showed how the character’s fate could resonate with audiences, particularly younger viewers, and why getting even a brief line right mattered.