Nitesh Tiwari says he believes Homer was inspired by Ramayana for The Odyssey; Ranbir Kapoor calls bow-lifting scene coincidence

Recently when the Indian audience watched Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, they couldn't help but draw parallels with Ramayana.

Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana hit screens on November 5. But much before that, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey had fans pumped for it purely because of a scene involving a queen choosing her groom and a bow and arrow. Nitesh and Ranbir Kapoor, who plays Lord Rama, recently discussed the parallels between the Indian epic and Homer’s Odyssey.

Queen Penelope and Sita both ask suitors and lift and string a complicated bow in The Odyssey and Ramayana.

Nitesh Tiwari, Ranbir Kapoor on The Odyssey, Ramayana

Talking to Screen Rant, Nitesh stated that he believed Homer might have been inspired by the Ramayana, given the parallels in the stories. “Ramayana is the oldest epic, and I believe Homer was inspired by Ramayana in some way; having written those bits in Odyssey. And yes, I did notice those equivalents and I felt very happy that our greatest epic has got a tribute in another epic which belongs to the West side, and it's going to make it very easier for the people to also connect with what we were trying to bring to the West also,” he said.

Ranbir pointed out that the Ramayana was written thousands of years ago, but called the parallels a sweet coincidence, particularly in the bow-lifting scene. “To be honest, it's written in our text 4,000 years ago. So actually, when I saw Odyssey, I thought, 'That's from Ramayana.' Exactly. But yeah, sweet coincidence. I love The Odyssey. I love Christopher Nolan. But yeah, doing Ramayana had a very different feeling,” said the actor. He also stated that he had ‘goosebumps’ while performing the scene, and could feel a ‘weird current going up and down’ when he lifted the bow.

The Odyssey scene that reminded audiences of Ramayana

During the climax of The Odyssey, Odysseus (Matt Damon) has been away for too long and presumed dead. Penelope (Anne Hathaway) is willing to finally select a suitor, but only if they pass the test she has set for them. The suitors must not just string a bow that only her husband has been able to, but they must also fire an arrow through 12 axe heads to win her in marriage.

While this scene is a setup for something far more than it seems on the surface, it was hard for the Indian audience not to draw parallels to Sita's swayamvar. In Ramayana, suitors are called to Mithila by King Janaka to seek his daughter Sita’s hand in marriage. Suitors must be able to lift a bow called Shivadhanush, which only she has managed to lift so far. Rama not only lifts it, but he also breaks it by mistake while stringing it. Sai Pallavi plays Sita, and Yash plays Ravana in Ramayana.