However, on Sunday, the film allayed all those fears to register an all-time record for Diwali Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana seems to be recovering after a good, but not great, start at the domestic box office. The most expensive Indian film ever made set a new record for a pre-Diwali release in India. But there were concerns about its earnings on the day of the festival.
very few release on the day of the festival itself, choosing to maximise the days after Diwali While the Diwali weekend has seen many big films released in theatres over the years. But Ramayana came out three days before it, which meant its biggest day – the first Sunday – falls on Diwali. Produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios in collaboration with DNEG and Yash’s Monster Mind Creations, Ramayana is planned as a two-part film. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, and Ravie Dubey as Lakshman.
It is currently tracking to beat Tiger 3’s all-time Diwali earnings record. The Salman Khan-starrer earned ₹ 44.50 crore in net box office on Diwali 2023. Ramayana is aiming for a ₹ 60+ crore day as things stand currently. The first released worldwide on November 5, 2026, while the second part is set for Diwali 2028.
Ramayana began with houseful shows on day 1, netting ₹ 64.85 crore net in India on its opening day. On Friday, Ramayana fell slightly, bringing in ₹ 48 crore, but jumped up on Saturday to mint almost ₹ 70 crore net. This took its three-day domestic haul to an impressive ₹ 183 crore net. The film earned ₹ 32 crore net in India by 5 PM, taking its earnings past ₹ 200 crore in just four days. Its domestic haul now stands at a formidable ₹ 215 crore . It earned just ₹ 7.50 crore on day 1 and has lacked pace since.
The figure was low given the film’s scale, but it was still the fourth-highest opening in Bollywood history. What is worrisome for the film is that its earnings have come largely on the back of some good performance by the Hindi version. Despite Yash’s presence as Ravana, the Kannada version has started extremely slowly. Of the other versions, Telugu has fared well, while Malayalam and Tamil are just filling the ranks.
On Sunday, despite Diwali keeping footfalls low in part of the country, Ramayana had a great day.
