Ramayana Day 1: Rs 64.85 crore net, below 100-crore forecast

Nitesh Tiwari’s two-part take on the Ramayana has landed in cinemas, and the first-day scorecard gives us an opening that is big on paper but still short of the feverish pre-release expectations.

Mounted with Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash in the central roles, the film arrived with the kind of scale that makes every day of the opening frame a news event of its own.

Day 1: a broad release with Hindi in front

As per trade figures shared by Sacnilk, Ramayana: Rise of a Legend collected Rs 64.85 crore net across all languages in India on its opening day. The film played in roughly 25,200 shows and recorded an India gross of Rs 77.50 crore.

The Hindi version did most of the heavy lifting with Rs 47.50 crore net. The language split shows exactly where the business came from:

• Hindi: Rs 47.50 crore
• Kannada: Rs 7.25 crore
• Telugu: Rs 6 crore
• Tamil: Rs 2.60 crore
• Malayalam: Rs 1.50 crore

That is a strong opening by ordinary standards, but it sits below the Rs 100 crore-plus opening many in the trade were expecting after advance bookings touched Rs 50.5 crore. The Hindi contribution works out to roughly 73% of the net total, a reminder that the southern language versions still have headroom if word of mouth travels during the holidays.

Why the Diwali weekend is the real test

The stakes are unusually high. The two-part saga is reported to carry a production budget of Rs 4,000 crore, so the film cannot rely on a single day, however hefty. It needs repeat viewing, family audiences and steady momentum across every language market.

Day two advance sales suggest the next push is already on. The film has registered Rs 29.46 crore gross in advance bookings for Friday, November 6. That early signal matters because the extended Diwali weekend is the first long window for audience word of mouth to spread.

Trade estimates cited in the report project that the first weekend could cross Rs 375 crore net, with an eventual India gross of around Rs 900 crore. Worldwide lifetime projections currently range from Rs 1,600 crore to Rs 1,800 crore, though those numbers remain early and depend on weekend growth and overseas performance.

North America: a softer overseas start

Overseas, the North American opening has been more modest than initially projected. By noon Pacific Standard Time, the film had grossed USD 940,000 from 1,009 locations. It was trending towards a USD 1.5 million day, against an initial expectation of USD 4 million including premieres. Later trade projections put the possible total closer to USD 3.5 million.

Premiere advance bookings in North America stood at USD 1.65 million, with projections suggesting a USD 2 million-plus premiere total. These are early figures, and evening shows can still change the shape of the day.

The next checkpoint is simple: watch the Saturday and Sunday jumps, and keep an eye on whether non-Hindi circuits grow. A big-budget mythological event lives or dies by its second and third days, not by the first printout.

Source: The Times of India