Sony Pictures Entertainment will release “Ramayana” worldwide on November 6, positioning the mythological epic to open two days before Diwali and setting up what producers describe as the costliest Indian film ever made. The two-part adaptation stars Ranbir Kapoor as the exiled prince Rama, Sai Pallavi as his wife Sita, and Kannada superstar Yash as the demon king Ravana.
Director Nitesh Tiwari, whose 2016 wrestling drama “Dangal” still holds the record for the highest-grossing Indian film worldwide, adapts the 5,000-year-old Valmiki text from a screenplay by Shridhar Raghavan. Sunny Deol plays Hanuman, Ravi Dubey plays Lakshman, and Lara Dutta takes on the role of Kaikeyi. The cast list runs deep, reflecting a production that took roughly seven years to assemble.
Reported budget figures for the two-part project have climbed steadily, from an initial estimate near ₹835 crore for the first installment to producer Namit Malhotra’s recent claim on a podcast that combined spending across both films will reach roughly ₹4,000 crore, or about $500 million. Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios and its visual effects arm DNEG, known for work on “Dune” and “Interstellar,” lead production alongside Yash’s Monster Mind Creations. Both installments were shot for IMAX. Composers Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman collaborate on the score, their first joint film project.
Sony controls distribution outside India, where Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions will handle the release. The film arrives in multiple languages, including a dedicated English version aimed at international audiences. Part two follows on Diwali 2027.
The scale invites comparison with 2023’s “Adipurush,” a Ramayana adaptation that drew heavy criticism for its visual effects and dialogue and underperformed against its budget. Tiwari’s team has leaned on that cautionary tale, emphasizing fidelity to the original text and a slower, more deliberate rollout of trailers and casting reveals. Industry trackers now peg a worldwide gross target near ₹2,000 crore for Tiwari to match his own “Dangal” benchmark, a figure that would require the film to perform strongly in India and overseas markets alike from its opening weekend.
