Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, stars Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash. Explore the film's cast, story, and release details, Day 1 box office predictions, advance bookings, and mixed reviews as India's ambitious mythological epic arrives in theatres.
Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash, has opened in Indian theatres, bringing Nitesh Tiwari's ambitious adaptation to the big screen. With a reported opening-day box-office projection of ₹160 crore and mixed reviews from movie critics, the film has already generated considerable anticipation.
Ramayana: Rise of a Legend has opened in Indian theatres today (with a global release set for tomorrow), pairing a mythological epic with an ambitious production. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra, the film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Ravi Dubey as Lakshmana, and Sunny Deol as Hanuman.
The two-part cinematic adaptation features music composed by Academy Award winners Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman. The first instalment, running approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes, has been released in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and English, and covers the events leading up to the start of the central conflict between Rama and Ravana. (Credit: TOI)
The film is expected to record a massive opening at the worldwide box office, with early projections estimating its Day 1 collection at approximately ₹160 crore, driven by significant interest from advance bookings. As of November 4, it had already accumulated ₹96.75 crore in domestic advance bookings, including block bookings.
The film's projected worldwide opening could surpass the approximately ₹120 crore debuts of Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan and Pathaan, but would still trail behind Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge. (Credit: The Indian Express)
The reviews for the movie have been a true mixed bag, and as the audience trickles in over the coming days, there ought to be more opinions set to complicate the final verdict.
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw rates it 4/5 stars, praising the large-scale visual presentation and adventurous storytelling, while Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India awarded it 4.5/5 stars, also praising the technical production. However, she notes Indian critics saw it well after the US premiere, raising questions about cultural relevance and potentially mispaced delays. On the other hand, Screen Rant's Brandon Zachary rates the film 7/10, while IndieWire gives it a B grade.
IGN's Siddhant Adlakha offered a considerably less favourable assessment, giving the film only 4/10 stars, critiquing, in particular, the clunky AI-driven dubbing overlay (an in-house version called Brahma AI). Adlakha also rues that in the film, "[p]rologues pile up on prologues for nearly an hour." However, he does point towards Yash's performance and Lanka's vibrant presentation as very compelling.
At any rate, readers will not know for sure until they watch it, so before you get your tickets, be sure to see the final trailer!
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