Ticket sales for Nitesh Tiwari’s ambitious Ramayana adaptation began on Dussehra, 15 days before the film’s release in theatres ahead of Diwali. Ramayana Part One has shown solid pace in pre-sales, crossing one lakh ticket sales over 11 days before release. The long window, along with pre-release events in various parts of the country, are generating buzz for producer Namit Malhotra’s magnum opus.
However, its pre-sales are not quite on the same level as Dhurandhar The Revenge from earlier this year, which should be a cause of concern for the makers.
The Aditya Dhar film hit the screens on March 19 with paid previews on March 18 evening. Advance booking for the paid previews began on March 7, nearly two weeks before the release, giving it a similar long pre-sales window like Ramayana. The Ranveer Singh -starrer started on a sensational note, selling almost 1.4 lakh tickets for the paid previews in 24 hours, including 90k in the major cinema chains alone. The full advance bookings for the film opened a week later, on March 14. Dhurandhar 2 minted ₹ 40 crore in paid previews alone and added ₹ 52 crore net in advance bookings for its opening day. The film had pre-sales of over ₹ 200 crore worldwide before release, a figure that Ramayana would want to emulate before it hits the screens on November 5 ahead of Diwali.
Dhurandhar The Revenge had one of the most unusual release strategies for an Indian film.
The first part is scheduled for worldwide release on November 5, 2026, while the second part is set for Diwali 2027. 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, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, and Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman. The films will release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam across India. Sony Pictures will handle global distribution, excluding India, while Dharma Productions will distribute the film in the Hindi-speaking market. The film is also planned for a worldwide IMAX release.
