Mumbai, April 17 (IANS): Veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar has given the voice-over to animated character Valmiki in the forthcoming film "Hanuman Da Damdaar".

"The era in which the story is set... it had to have someone who would be narrating the story. There wasn't much written and documented then. People travelled around telling stories and passed it on. 

"We believed it would be a nice build-up alongside. Given 'Ramayana' is written by Valmiki, it made sense to have Valmiki as the narrator. And once we decided to have a narrator, it had to be Javed Akhtar for he is the best," said Ruchi Narain, who made her animation debut by directing "Hanuman Da Damdaar".

Narain shared that there is a joke in the industry that even if the script is not that great, if the narrator is good the film sells. 

"And there hasn't been a better narrator than Javed Akhtar so we were thrilled when he agreed to be a part of the film."

The movie, produced by R.A.T. films, is slated to release on May 19.