Actress Srinidhi Shetty has denied reports that she rejected the role of Sita in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana because Yash is playing Ravana. She says she did audition for the part, but she was not selected.

The rumour spread quickly on social media. Posts claimed Shetty had auditioned for Sita before Sai Pallavi was cast, and then walked away from the film. The reason given was that she could not bring herself to act against Yash, the actor she played the love interest of in KGF. It was a neat story, and it travelled fast because it had a clear villain-and-heroine shape. It was also wrong, according to Shetty.

The actress sets the record straight. In an earlier interview, she addressed the claim directly and did not hedge. Her words:

Yes, I did go for an audition for the role of Sita in Ramayana. But I was not selected in the auditions. That is why I could not be part of this big project.

That is a very different account from the one circulating online. In her telling, there was no refusal and no principled exit. There was an audition, and a casting decision went another way. Shetty’s clarification puts the focus back on the casting process rather than on a personal standoff with her former co-star.

The film itself. Ramayana is directed by Nitesh Tiwari, and it has been positioned as one of the most ambitious retellings of the epic in recent memory. Ranbir Kapoor plays Shri Ram, Sai Pallavi plays Sita, and Yash plays Ravana. The film is being made as two parts, and it has been reported with a budget of around 4000 crore.

The first wave of audience reaction has been strong. The songs, the glimpse and the trailers have all drawn a warm response, and the film is now ready for release. It opens in theatres worldwide this Thursday, November 5.

Who is behind it. The production houses are Prime Focus Studios, led by Namit Malhotra, Yash’s company Monster Mind Creations, and DNEG. Their combined backing is what allowed the project to reach this scale.

The supporting cast is equally crowded with recognisable names. Sunny Deol, Shobana, Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh, Harish Uttaman, Faisal Malik, Vivek Oberoi, Kunal Kapoor, Mukesh Tiwari, Anupam Kher, Saurabh Sachdeva, Ravi Dubey, Aadinath Kothare and Nitish Sharma all appear in the film. A cast of this size gives the epic a deep bench, and it also gives the rumour mill plenty of names to attach to.

Why the rumour stuck. Two things made this story catch fire. The first is history. Shetty and Yash worked together in KGF, where she played his love interest. Audiences remember that pairing, so a claim that she refused to share a screen with him in a different kind of role felt plausible at first glance. The second is the casting itself. Ramayana is one of the most familiar stories in Indian culture, and every actor cast in it draws scrutiny from people who already have a picture of who should play whom.

Shetty’s denial does not stop the speculation completely. But it does remove the central claim that made the story dramatic. The report that she walked away is not supported by her own account, which describes a failed audition, not a rejection of the role.

What comes next. The film will now be judged by the people who buy tickets. Its first weekend will show whether the spectacle, the star pairings and the two-part scale can match the buzz. For Shetty, the episode is a reminder that a single casting detail can become a viral storyline before anyone checks the facts.

Ramayana releases worldwide this Thursday, November 5. Audience and box office reactions will follow from the opening day.