Hindi cinema’s most awaited epic is taking the road less travelled. Ramayana, starring Ranbir Kapoor, will open in cinemas on Thursday, November 5 — three days before Diwali — instead of the festival day or the lucrative post-Diwali holiday. Trade estimates put the opening at Rs 60-70 crore, which would rank among the biggest starts for a Hindi film.
Why the calendar usually says no
The days before Diwali are widely treated as slow for the movie business. Audiences are occupied with shopping, preparations and Lakshmi Puja, and evening footfalls drop. In recent years, big releases have preferred the post-Diwali holiday after Happy New Year (2014), Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015), Golmaal Again (2017) and Thugs Of Hindostan (2018) used that window for record starts.
Ramayana is reversing that logic. Krrish 3 (2013) and Housefull 4 (2019) both opened before Diwali and looked merely good until business jumped after the festival. The risk is that a pre-Diwali opening can be misread as underperformance.
What history actually shows
The comparison being drawn is with Amitabh Bachchan’s Mard, which opened four days before Diwali in 1985 and still drew huge crowds from day one. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh told Bollywood Hungama, “I remember the craze for Mard. It was unimaginable, that too from the first day of release.”
- 1985: Mard opened four days before Diwali and became a phenomenon.
- 1998: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan both opened well four days before the festival; the latter took the year’s biggest opening.
- 1999: Hum Saath Saath Hain had a subdued pre-Diwali start, then became the year’s biggest hit.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) and Baazigar (1993) are also cited as early examples of films that overcame the pre-Diwali window.
The test is Monday
The real box office test will not be Thursday alone. If Ramayana opens at Rs 60-70 crore before Diwali, the post-festival period beginning Monday, November 9 becomes the moment to watch. A strong hold would signal that the film is not merely front-loaded but has enough content to sustain.
The audience for this release is unusually wide, and the advance booking suggests a bumper start. The question is whether the film can convert historical curiosity into repeat viewing once the lamps are lit.
Source: bollywoodHungama.com
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