Ramayana Opens to ₹127 Crore Worldwide on Day One

Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Part One has opened to an estimated ₹127.50 crore worldwide on its first day, the biggest pre-Diwali debut in the history of Indian cinema. The two-part retelling of the ancient epic, released worldwide on Thursday 5 November, drew huge crowds in India and set opening-day records in Britain, while the United States emerged as its strongest market outside India.

Ranbir Kapoor stars as Prince Rama, with Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as the demon king Ravana and Ravi Dubey as Lakshmana. The film, known internationally as Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, is the first instalment of a two-part production, with the second part scheduled for release at Diwali in 2028.

A record pre-Diwali opening

According to industry tracker Sacnilk, the film took ₹64.85 crore net in India on its opening day, equivalent to a gross of ₹77.50 crore, across 25,200 shows. Overseas markets added roughly ₹50 crore, taking the worldwide gross to about ₹127.50 crore.

That comfortably beats the previous pre-Diwali opening record held by Salman Khan’s Tiger 3, which took ₹44.50 crore net on its pre-Diwali Sunday release in 2023. Trade reports also describe Ramayana as the third-biggest Hindi opening of 2026 so far, behind only Dhurandhar 2 and Drishyam 3.

Not every tracker agrees on the exact total. Bollywood Hungama’s own estimate puts the worldwide opening day at ₹121.62 crore, with an India net of ₹62.47 crore and ₹47.25 crore from overseas. Opening-day figures are trade estimates, not final certified accounts, and are often revised in the days that follow.

Makers claim more — and the caveats

The film’s makers put the number higher still. In a press note issued on Friday, they claimed a worldwide opening-day gross of ₹155 crore, describing it as the highest pre-Diwali opening in Indian cinema history. Independent trade estimates, however, sit well below that figure, and the difference between a studio announcement and a tracker’s count is a familiar feature of Indian box office reporting.

Even on the trade estimates, the opening fell short of the biggest day-one records. Adipurush, the much-criticised 2023 retelling of the same epic, took ₹140 crore worldwide on its first day, and Ramayana’s ₹127.50 crore places it 16th among the biggest Indian opening days, behind Jawan at ₹129 crore and the record ₹274 crore opening of Pushpa 2.

Early critical reaction has also been mixed. The film held a 40 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes from 10 reviews at the time of reporting, suggesting that word of mouth, rather than reviews, will decide how far it travels beyond its opening weekend.

America leads the overseas charge

The United States was the film’s biggest market outside India. Pinkvilla’s trade estimates put the American opening day at $2.80 million, after preview screenings began on Wednesday 4 November. Britain delivered the standout overseas result: the film took £440,000 on its first day, an all-time opening-day record for a Bollywood film in the UK, passing the £427,000 debut of Dhurandhar 2.

The scale of the release is unprecedented for an Indian film. It opened on roughly 70,000 screens worldwide, including 1,300 locations in North America, the widest theatrical release for an Indian production in the region. Sony is handling distribution outside India.

The most expensive Indian film ever made

Ramayana is reported to be the most expensive film project in Indian cinema history, with the combined budget for the two parts estimated at between $420 million and $500 million. That scale explains the scrutiny: a film this large needs more than a strong opening day, and the second part, due in two years, depends on the first instalment holding its audience.

The film has been positioned as a prestige event, with IMAX and 3D screenings and a global marketing campaign. Yash, one of the biggest stars of Kannada cinema, plays Ravana, while Kapoor leads a largely Hindi-speaking ensemble.

A crowded weekend ahead

Ramayana now faces a crowded American weekend. Godzilla Minus Zero opens in the United States on Friday 6 November, with industry forecasts of $25 million to $30 million in North America, alongside The Cat in the Hat and the Christmas musical Drummer Boy. The weekend will show whether its strong start was curiosity or lasting demand.

For now, the film has done what its makers needed most: it has opened big, broken a pre-Diwali record and put Indian cinema at the centre of a global box office conversation. The Odyssey showed earlier this year that a mythic epic can still dominate the worldwide box office; Ramayana’s opening suggests audiences are ready for another. Whether it can sustain that momentum through the weekend — and justify the most expensive production India has ever mounted — is the question the next few days will answer.