Salman Khan: Don’t reduce Ramayana to its Rs 4,000 crore budget

Salman Khan has a simple request for anyone debating Ramayana: Rise of a Legend: talk about the story, not the spectacle.

At the Mumbai trailer launch of his upcoming film Maatrubhumi: May War Rest In Peace, the star pushed back on the conversation that has followed Nitesh Tiwari’s epic. Much of the buzz has centred on its reported Rs 4,000 crore budget and the scale of its visual effects.

Shift the spotlight from VFX to character

Khan argued that a film drawn from the Ramayana should be discussed for what it carries, not what it cost. He said the discussion should be around the Ramayana itself — Ram, Ravana, Sita and the scriptures — rather than production budgets or a loop of “VFX, VFX, VFX.”

“Ramayana ka charcha Ramayana pe hona chahiye,” he said, which translates to the discussion should be about the Ramayana.

He then listed the qualities of Lord Ram as the best husband, father, warrior, son and brother, and said his own character in Maatrubhumi carries the same qualities.

The film behind the buzz

Ramayana: Rise of a Legend released theatrically on November 5, 2026. It draws on Valmiki’s Ramayan and Goswami Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, and stars Ranbir Kapoor as Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, Yash as Ravana and Sunny Deol as Hanuman.

When asked if he had watched the new film, Khan smiled and said he had seen Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan — a reply that keeps his attention on the older television telling rather than the new release.

Why this matters for film fans

For Hindi film fans, the comment reframes a launch weekend that has been dominated by numbers. A reported Rs 4,000 crore budget is a marketing hook, but Khan’s point is that it can also flatten an epic into a VFX demo. His reminder returns the conversation to character, performance and devotional text.

• Ram’s qualities: best husband, father, warrior, son and brother.
• The source texts: Valmiki’s Ramayan and Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas.
• What not to lead with: the Rs 4,000 crore budget or a string of VFX chatter.

There was also a small, fan-first gesture at the event: Khan announced that audiences above 75 would be charged only Rs 11 per ticket for Maatrubhumi.

India Today’s review of Ramayana: Rise of a Legend noted that Ranbir Kapoor finds “a certain stillness in Rama,” with calmness and restraint that serve the character. That sits alongside Khan’s argument: the performance and the story are the spectacle worth discussing.

Source: India Today