Ramayan actor Dipika Chikhlia would love to play Kaikeyi, Sunil Lahri wishes to play Raavan’s role if given a chance

Ramayan actors Sunil Lahri and Dipika Chikhlia, known for playing Lakshman and Sita respectively, have revealed they would want to play exactly the opposite characters if given a chance to pick a role. While Sunil has expressed a desire to play the main antagonist Raavan, Sita said she would like to take up the role of Kaikeyi, Ram’s step-mother.

During an open media interaction via video chat, Sunil said, “I prefer doing Lakshman, if Lakshman is not an option for me, I will definitely like to do Raavan.” He is so many shades to perform. There is a lot of variety for an actor.”

Dipika said she would rather play Kaikeyi who had asked her husband Dashratha to send Ram, Lakshman and Sita on a 14-year exile. “If today somebody would have offered me, I would have possibly done Kaikeyi, this is how much we have changed as actors (laughs). As an actor, it is exactly opposite playing a negative role. If I have to play a role, I will like to try playing a role where I have a dimension, where I can explore myself as a creative person,” she said.

However, director Ramanand Sagar’s son Prem Sagar pointed out that the audience may not accept her in such a role. Sunil had a different opinion and said, “It depends on actor’s quality and belief. If the actor is very powerful and talented, he can pull this off.”

Claiming that the world will always see her as Sita, Dipika added, “I see myself as a lot more than just that. It’s time where I take a leap where work is concerned. We have given 33 years, each one of us. It’s time for us to extend our boundaries.”

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Dipika will now be seen in the titular role in her upcoming film, Sarojini. It is the biopic of freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu, often referred to as the Nightingale of India for her poetry, written during the freedom struggle. Dipika had recently told Hindustan Times in an interview, “When I am no more, my body of work shouldn’t only be Ramayan, it should be much more. The movies I have done in Kannada or in Bengal, all of them have broken records. I should have a good body of work in Hindi cinema apart from Ramayan. It is important for me to do that, for my own satisfaction that I lived the legacy of Ramayan.”

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