NEW DELHI: Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Rise of a Legend opened across India and the US on Thursday (November 05), with early trade estimates putting its India net collection at Rs 12.69 crore by mid-morning across 6,796 shows and a gross of Rs 14.97 crore.
The Hindi version led with Rs 9.16 crore, followed by Kannada at Rs 1.75 crore and Telugu at Rs 1.18 crore; Tamil and Malayalam contributed Rs 44 lakh and Rs 16 lakh. Advance bookings for opening day were reported at Rs 49.75 crore in India and USD 5.6 million overseas, taking worldwide pre-sales past Rs 150 crore, according to trade trackers. Exhibitors said Cinepolis alone had sold over a lakh tickets and scheduled more than 1,600 shows.
Trade projections put the opening at Rs 75-100 crore across languages, with lifetime estimates of Rs 1,000-3,000 crore, pitched against a reported Rs 2,000 crore outlay for this part of a two-film, Rs 4,000-crore project produced by Namit Malhotra's Prime Focus Studios with DNEG and Yash's Monster Mind.
The reception abroad is more mixed than the domestic buzz. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called it "thoroughly engaging, rousing and spectacular"; Screen Rant rated it 7/10 and IndieWire a B, while Next Best Picture gave 5/10 and IGN 4/10, faulting clunky action, the CGI and AI-assisted lip-syncing. Audiences at home have praised Ranbir Kapoor as Rama and Yash as Ravana, with the music and pace drawing criticism.
The film, which also stars Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman and Sunny Deol as Hanuman, ends with Sita's abduction; the second part is slated for Diwali 2027.
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)