Assamese craftsmen who created Ranbir Kapoor, Ravie Dubey's armour never knew it was for Ramayana, worked 3 years on cane-rubber armour
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Traditional cane craftsmanship from a remote village in Assam’s Barpeta district has found a prominent place on the silver screen in Nitesh Tiwari’s newly rolled out mythological epic Ramayana , starring Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama and Ravie Dubey as Lakshman.
Adding to this, Ranbir Kapoor wearing Assam's handmade cane-rubber armour in Ramayana. 15 artisans worked for over three years Master artisan Jaynal Abdin, a resident of Jania Banglipara village in Barpeta district, led a 15-member local team over a span of three-and-a-half years to handcraft 30 to 35 pieces of the specialised cane-and-rubber armour featured in the movie.
Meanwhile, In conversation with ANI, Abdin recalled that the project first reached him around three-and-a-half years ago through Abdul Malek of the local organisation Gram Unnayan in Jania, rather than directly from the movie’s production house. "It did not come to me directly. It first came to Abdul Malek ji of Gram Unnayan here in Jania. He called me over, shared a project had come in, and asked me to take a look. They had sent a file initially containing the drawings and designs. After examining it, I shared it could be done and discussed it with my team head. Soon after, five to six members from their team arrived here, and a member named Sagar stayed back with us to help oversee the measurements and corrections," Abdin told ANI.
Notably, Crafting wearable armour out of stiff cane for high-intensity movie sequences posed significant technical hurdles. Abdin shared that the initial prototype had minor fitting issues around the neck and shoulders and was returned with markings for alteration. Once refitted and tried on the lead star, the pure cane structure proved too rigid and tight for comfortable movement.
As per the latest buzz, "After we fixed the initial cuts, they made the main star of the movie wear it, and he shared it was very hard and tight—which cane naturally is. They asked what alternative material could be used. I told them we could craft it out of whatever material they provided. They sent us black and green rubber, but weaving with rubber alone was not working. When I spoke to costume designer Ajay, I suggested using half cane and half rubber. He agreed and asked us to make one sample," Abdin explained.
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On top of that, Once the hybrid cane-and-rubber design was approved, the artisans worked intermittently over three to three-and-a-half years under tight deadlines whenever the production schedule demanded fresh pieces. To meet urgent shooting requirements in Mumbai, finished armour jackets were rushed directly from Barpeta to Guwahati Airport.
"They gave me the contact number of a person at Guwahati Airport and told me to simply hand the jackets over to him. I would go to the airport, hand it over, and within two to three hours they would call to confirm they had received it. The work was not continuous; sometimes there would be no news for three to six months, and then suddenly a call would come asking for eight or ten pieces on very short notice before shooting resumed. In total, over three to three-and-a-half years, we sent around 30 to 35 pieces," he shared.
Source: Hindustan Times