Nitesh Tiwari's big-budget retelling of the Ramayana opened this past week in the widest North American release ever given to an Indian film, landing in 1,433 theaters as its producers and Sony Pictures — which is distributing the film outside India — test how large an audience a Hindu epic can draw beyond the South Asian diaspora.
Industry trackers differ on the exact numbers, as they often do in a film's first days: the Associated Press put the domestic opening weekend at roughly $8.7 million, while The Numbers listed it closer to $8.9 million, with a cumulative domestic gross near $12.4 million including preview-night and early-week showings. Trade outlet Sacnilk reported the film crossed $10 million overseas within its first two days, with IMAX screens contributing 11% of the worldwide total — a new high-water mark for an Indian release on that format.
The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita and the Kannada superstar Yash as the demon king Raavan, in a cast that also includes Sunny Deol as Hanuman and Arun Govil, who played Ram in the famous 1987 television serial, now cast as King Dashrath. It is produced by Namit Malhotra, the visual-effects mogul behind DNEG and Prime Focus, with Yash's own Monster Mind Creations also attached — and is billed as the first installment of a multi-part adaptation, with Toho's "Godzilla Minus Zero" ironically sharing the same opening weekend atop the North American chart.
Reports in the Indian trade press have put the production budget at around ₹600 crore — roughly $70 million — which would make it one of the most expensive films ever made outside Hollywood. Whether that bet pays off now depends on holding audiences through a multi-week run and a planned sequel that will carry the story forward.