Three days before Diwali, the first instalment of Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana arrives in cinemas carrying an argument as large as its reported budget: that a story India has known for centuries can be mounted at the scale of Avatar, Avengers or The Odyssey.
The two-part adaptation, led by Ranbir Kapoor and backed by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios alongside DNEG and Yash’s Monster Mind Creations, carries a reported combined budget near ₹4,000 crore (over USD 422 million). The first part opens Thursday, with 3D and IMAX formats central to the release.
Malhotra, who is global CEO of DNEG, is offering the scale as the reason for retelling a familiar epic. His argument is not a new plot but a new production benchmark.
“No television show, no street play, no Ram Leela has ever shown you Ramayana on this scale and spectacle that we are making,” Malhotra told PTI.
He cites The Lord of the Rings as a budget reference and says Indian blockbusters such as Baahubali are treated as local successes rather than global spectacles. The stated aim, in his words, is to “narrow that gap down” and show Hollywood that India can deliver work “as good, if not bigger.”
Why the project carries weight
DNEG’s eight Academy Awards, for work on Dune, Dune: Part Two, Tenet, Interstellar and others, give the claim technical pedigree. Last week’s premiere at the David Geffen Theatre at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles signals an explicit second audience: Western viewers who know The Odyssey, Harry Potter and Star Wars, but may not know that Malhotra positions Ramayana as an original epic that came before them.
This is the wider case: India, he argues, makes “terrific Indian movies” but has not been treated as making Hollywood-style spectacles. Ramayana is his attempt to close that gap.
- Reported budget: ₹4,000 crore (over USD 422 million) across two parts; first part opens Thursday, three days before Diwali.
- Cast and director: Nitesh Tiwari directs Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana and Ravi Dubey as Lakshman.
- Production pedigree: Prime Focus Studios with DNEG and Yash’s Monster Mind Creations; DNEG has won eight Academy Awards.
The immediate test
Promotion has not been friction-free. The song Mangal Rang drew objections from some listeners over Sufi-inspired elements; the first glimpse was criticised online for visual effects. Ranbir Kapoor recently apologised after a verbal slip at a Dussehra event in Kolkata.
Malhotra frames his first accountability as personal—his mother’s response—before the wider Indian audience. His larger appeal is to recognise the individual risk: he says no one in India or Hollywood has put this much personal money and effort behind an original film concept.
According to early reviews, part one charts Ravana’s rise, Rama’s birth, his marriage to Sita and their exile, ending with Sita’s abduction; the second part, expected in about a year, follows the attempt to rescue her. Opening weekend will begin to show whether the ₹4,000 crore bet is accepted as spectacle or scrutinised as overreach.
Source: Connected to India News
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