Ranbir Kapoor on Elon Musk’s flying car: ‘India did it 5,000 years ago’

Ranbir Kapoor has brought Elon Musk into the promotions of Ramayana. Talking about the film, the actor compared Musk’s much-discussed “flying car”, Tesla’s new Roadster, with the Pushpaka Vimana of the Ramayana, and said India had done it 5,000 years earlier. A clip of the remark has gone viral on social media.

Ranbir plays Lord Rama in director Nitesh Tiwari’s two-part Ramayana, whose first part releases in cinemas on 5 November, during Diwali. He made the comment in a promotional interview alongside Tiwari and co-stars Yash, Ravi Dubey and Rakul Preet Singh.

During the chat, the host remarked that the weapons described in the epic could rival modern inventions, and praised the film’s visual effects by Academy Award-winning studio DNEG. Tiwari said it was wonderful to reimagine those creations on screen. Ranbir then chipped in.

“Elon Musk recently invented a flying car. I think India did it 5,000 years ago!” he said, according to The Times of India and Hindustan Times.

Ranbir was referring to Tesla’s next-generation Roadster, which Musk unveiled at an event in Waco, Texas, on 15 October. In a demonstration at SpaceX’s rocket development and testing facility, the electric sports car drove upside down on a huge curved ramp, flipped, stayed airborne for a few seconds and landed safely. “Well, it worked,” Musk said afterwards. He has said the car will go into production in 2028.

In the Ramayana, the Pushpaka Vimana is a self-moving aerial chariot, or flying palace, built by the celestial architect Vishwakarma for Lord Brahma. Brahma gave it to Kubera, the god of wealth and Ravana’s half-brother, and Ravana seized it after defeating him. The epic describes it as flying at the speed of thought and expanding to hold any number of passengers. It appears as a giant flying structure in the film’s trailer.

Tiwari said in the same interview that getting the Vimana right took time. “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,” he said, India Today reported.

Ramayana also stars Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman and Ravi Dubey as Lakshman. It is produced by Namit Malhotra and Yash, with music by AR Rahman and Hans Zimmer.