The makers of the upcoming Valmiki Ramayana have landed a masterstroke — legendary composer Ilaiyaraaja is now on board the project. The announcement came through a poster dropped recently, mentioning "a musical invocation by Ilaiyaraaja," adding another towering name to an already impressive technical team.

Directed by Bhavna Datta Talwar from an adapted screenplay by Anand Neelakantan, the film's crew includes cinematographer Binod Pradhan, production designer Sabu Cyril, sound designer Resul Pookutty, and filmmaker-scholar Chandraprakash Dwivedi serving as creative consultant and dialogue writer. Cast details are yet to be announced.

Based on the ancient epic dating back to 500–100 BCE, Valmiki Ramayana spans 24,000 verses across seven books, chronicling Sita's abduction by Ravana during Lord Ram's exile and her eventual rescue. The film is slated for an October 2 theatrical release.

With multiple Ramayana adaptations in the works — including Nitesh Tiwari's version starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash, and Prashanth Varma's Jai Hanuman headlined by Rishab Shetty — the race to bring the epic to screen is well and truly on.