Ramayana has potential to hit Rs 3,000 crore: experts

The big-screen Ramayana opens in theatres on Thursday with a question that is almost impossible to answer on opening weekend: is this a movie, or is it a religious event? Trade voices quoted by PTI say it could be both, and they are putting numbers on that belief.

Exhibitors are talking about an opening-day collection of Rs 75-100 crore across languages, with lifetime projections that stretch from Rs 1,000 crore to as much as Rs 3,000 crore if the film connects with the devotional audience. That is not a normal range; it is what happens when a story comes with built-in cultural memory.

The numbers, in brief

• Opening day: Rs 75-100 crore across languages, with Miraj’s COO expecting Rs 75-80 crore nett or about Rs 100 crore gross.
• Lifetime potential: Rs 1,000 crore as a base, up to Rs 2,500-3,000 crore if Hindu devotees turn up in large numbers.
• South India: roughly Rs 30-40 crore, with Karnataka likely leading because of Yash’s fan base.
• Release footprint: Miraj alone plans 225 screens and 960 daily shows in Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil.

A faith-first frame

Bihar exhibitor Vishek Chauhan says the film cannot be judged like Dhurandhar, Border or Baahubali. He calls it “faith-based cinema” and describes it as “review and critic-proof”. His logic is simple: if a Rs 2 crore film on Neem Karoli Baba can earn Rs 300-350 crore in India, the greatest religious tale in the country has an even larger ceiling.

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, the film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana, with music by A R Rahman and Hans Zimmer and visual effects by DNEG.

Why Dhanteras matters

Ashish Misra of Cinepolis India says the chain has already sold more than one lakh tickets and scheduled over 1,600 shows on opening day, but he cautions against reading too much into the first print. Because the release lands around Dhanteras, Choti Diwali and Diwali, evening shows may be affected while families are busy with puja and relatives. “Monday is when the week properly begins,” Misra told PTI.

The South reads it differently

Trade expert Ramesh Bala sees moderate buzz, not the mass-action energy of Pushpa 2, KGF 2 or RRR. He expects Rs 30-40 crore from the South and says word of mouth will decide. With Suriya’s Scene and Nayanthara’s Mookuthi Amman 2 releasing a day later, Ramayana gets its own space without owning the Southern weekend.

What to do about the box office talk

Ignore the first-day figure for this one. The real signal arrives on Monday, after the festival weekend. Watch premium formats: Akshaye Rathi says advance traction is strongest in IMAX and 3D, where tickets can reach Rs 3,000 and above, while regular shows start around Rs 200. And if you are booking a family outing, Tier-2 and Tier-3 screens are being priced deliberately family-friendly.

Chauhan’s final word is fitting for an epic: “It has only two possible outcomes: hit or miss, there is no in between.” For Ramayana, the audience that treats this as darshan may decide which one it is.

Source: The Times of India