Ramayana will not wait for Diwali or the day after. The epic releases on Thursday, November 5, three days ahead of the festival—a deliberate break from the post-Diwali playbook that has dominated big-ticket Hindi releases for more than a decade.
The move has surprised the trade because the days before Diwali are traditionally considered a box-office lull. Even on Diwali itself, evening collections dip around Lakshmi Puja. Yet advance booking trends, and the scale of the project, point to a bumper start. Trade estimates place the opening in the Rs 60-70 crore range, among the biggest ever for a Hindi film.
Why the date is unusual
Since Happy New Year in 2014, the preferred route for a big Diwali film has been to open on the day after the festival and exploit the holiday. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Golmaal Again and Thugs Of Hindostan all followed that pattern. Ramayana is reversing it.
Recent pre-Diwali arrivals show why the caution exists. Krrish 3 (2013) and Housefull 4 (2019) both opened a couple of days before Diwali and delivered good but not extraordinary first three days; their real surge came only after the festival. Filmmakers learned to chase the guaranteed post-Diwali holiday instead.
The 41-year history says buzz can win
The historical record suggests the date is not destiny. The most quoted parallel is Mard, which opened four days before Diwali in 1985 and still drew huge first-day audiences. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh recalls, “I remember the craze for Mard. It was unimaginable, that too from the first day of release.”
- 1993: Baazigar arrived a day before Diwali and became a hit.
- 1995: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge opened a few days before the festival; its start was not extraordinary, but it built into the biggest hit of the year.
- 1998: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan clashed four days before Diwali; both opened strongly.
- 1999: Hum Saath Saath Hain opened two days before Diwali and recovered from a relatively soft start to become the year’s biggest hit.
The 1985 comparison matters because it frames the current test: can a Ranbir Kapoor-led spectacle do what Amitabh Bachchan’s Mard did and turn a pre-Diwali slot into a cultural event?
What to watch
The pre-Diwali effect is real: even major films can see subdued collections just before the festival. But history also shows that exceptional anticipation can override the calendar. Ramayana’s real test will not be Thursday, but Monday, November 9, the first trading day after the holiday. If the film holds after a Rs 60-70 crore start, the release-date consensus could shift again.
The verdict will be less about the date and more about whether the film keeps audiences after the festive rush.
Source: bollywoodHungama.com
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