Ramayana Part 1: Release Date, Runtime, Advance Booking and Reviews, Explained

Ramayana: Part 1 opens in theatres on Thursday, 5 November 2026. Nitesh Tiwari directs. Ranbir Kapoor plays Rama, Sai Pallavi plays Sita and Yash plays Ravana. Namit Malhotra's Prime Focus Studios is producing with DNEG and Yash's Monster Mind Creations.

Three days out, the film already has a U certificate, a 195-minute Hindi runtime, an India advance book that Sacnilk put at Rs 58.14 crore by Monday evening, and reviews that do not agree with one another.

The 60-second version

• Release: Thursday, 5 November 2026, in theatres. Sacnilk lists Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. The English international title is Ramayana: Rise of a Legend.
• Runtime and certificate: 195 minutes (3 hours 15 minutes) on the Hindi censor certificate, U, zero cuts, handed over 30 October, Bollywood Hungama reported.
• English cut: IGN's reviewer saw a 162-minute dub, about 30 minutes shorter, with generative-AI lip-sync the review calls Brahma A.I.
• Advance, 6:48 pm IST, 2 November (Sacnilk): Rs 58.14 crore gross across four dates on sale, Rs 47.08 crore without blocked seats, 13.92 lakh tickets. Thursday alone: Rs 27.97 crore including blocks.
• Reviews: Taran Adarsh / Bollywood Hungama, 5 stars. IndieWire, B. IGN, 4/10, as India Today reported, on the English dub.
• Part 2: iDiva still said Diwali 2027 on 31 October. Adarsh's review and The Indian Express point to 2028. India Today said on 24 October that the makers had not confirmed a shift to Diwali 2028.

Release date, languages and screens

Thursday, 5 November, is the theatrical date in India Today, Sacnilk, Bollywood Hungama and The Indian Express. Sacnilk's advance page also calls the opening a Diwali release. Trade copy has used that framing for weeks.

Sacnilk's film card lists five Indian languages: Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. The English-language version shown to international press is titled Ramayana: Rise of a Legend. IndieWire's Christian Zilko wrote that Sony Pictures will release that version in US theatres on 5 November. The Indian Express had already reported that Sony is handling international distribution.

India Today dates the world premiere to 27 October at the Academy Museum's David Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles. The Indian Express dates the Los Angeles premiere to 28 October. Both place it in the week before the review embargo.

Premium formats are already in the booking grid. Sacnilk's Saturday table includes 2D, 3D, IMAX 3D, 4DX, Dolby Cinema, ICE, EPIQ and Screen X. India Today's morning account, below, shows Hindi 3D and IMAX doing a large share of the money.

Runtime and the U certificate

Bollywood Hungama's Fenil Seta reported on 30 October that the CBFC Examining Committee did not ask for a single cut or any audio or visual modification. The report says the board also did not ask for the usual language credits or an anti-drug ticker. The film received a U certificate, which means unrestricted exhibition. The Vvan and Drishyam The Conclusion had also gone through without cuts, Hungama noted, but with a U/A 16+ rating.

The certificate was handed to the makers on 30 October. The length on it is 195.00 minutes, or 3 hours and 15 minutes. Sacnilk's film card matches that: runtime 3h 15m, CBFC rating U.

That is the Hindi figure. It is not the cut IGN reviewed. Siddhant Adlakha's IGN review of Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, updated 31 October, says US press were shown the English dub in place of the Hindi version, and that the Hindi film is about 30 minutes longer than the 162-minute English cut. The review also says most of the musical sequences are absent from that shorter version.

Advance booking, with the time on the number

Sacnilk's advance page for the film, updated at 7:20 pm IST on 2 November 2026, says the figures are data as of 6:48 pm IST. Across the four show dates then on sale, the India gross was Rs 58.14 crore including seats blocked by cinemas, and Rs 47.08 crore without them. Tickets: 13.92 lakh including blocks, 11.16 lakh without. Shows: 41,851. Occupancy: 15 percent including blocks, 12 percent without.

Date on sale	Gross, with blocked seats	Gross, without blocked seats	Tickets, with blocks	Shows	Occupancy, with blocks
Premiere, Wed 4 Nov	Rs 0	Rs 0	0	1	0%
Day 1, Thu 5 Nov	Rs 27.97 crore	Rs 23.62 crore	6.70 lakh	15,891	19%
Day 2, Fri 6 Nov	Rs 14.39 crore	Rs 11.13 crore	3.51 lakh	13,100	12%
Day 3, Sat 7 Nov	Rs 15.78 crore	Rs 12.33 crore	3.70 lakh	12,859	13%
Total	Rs 58.14 crore	Rs 47.08 crore	13.92 lakh	41,851	15%

Sacnilk says these are India gross from online advance sales. The figure in brackets on its page is the total excluding blocked seats. Thursday is more than half the four-date gross even before walk-up sales.

The same page still carries an earlier note, timestamped 1:39 pm IST, that the film had about Rs 49.75 crore gross including blocked seats from about 11.87 lakh tickets as of a 1:20 pm update, and that including Sunday the cumulative had crossed Rs 50 crore. Sunday is not a row in the 6:48 pm table above. Treat the afternoon note and the evening table as two snapshots. Do not add them together.

Earlier the same morning, India Today (published 11:10 am IST, citing Sacnilk as of 6 am) had a lower all-dates number: Rs 45.96 crore including blocked seats and Rs 36.85 crore without them, from 11.01 lakh tickets, 35,697 shows, 1,708 cinemas and 527 cities. Occupancy was 14 percent including blocks. Thursday at that hour was Rs 25.39 crore including blocks and Rs 21.30 crore without them. By 6:48 pm, Sacnilk's Thursday line was Rs 27.97 crore including blocks.

India Today's 6 am city split, including blocked seats: NCR Rs 6.78 crore, Mumbai Rs 6.08 crore, Bengaluru Rs 5.79 crore, Hyderabad Rs 2.81 crore, Pune Rs 2.17 crore, Kolkata Rs 1.68 crore. States: Maharashtra Rs 9.42 crore, Karnataka Rs 7.15 crore, Delhi Rs 6.78 crore, Gujarat Rs 3.61 crore, Telangana Rs 2.93 crore. The top 10 states were 85 percent of the India advance gross.

Languages in that same 6 am cut: Hindi Rs 38.70 crore (84 percent), Kannada Rs 4.41 crore, Telugu Rs 2.35 crore, Tamil Rs 41.66 lakh, Malayalam Rs 8.01 lakh. Sacnilk's 1:39 pm note still had Hindi at about 84 percent, with Kannada about 9 percent and Telugu about 5 percent.

Formats, again from India Today's 6 am account: Hindi 3D Rs 21.57 crore, which it said was 47 percent of the overall advance, Hindi 2D Rs 8.75 crore, Hindi IMAX 3D Rs 6.34 crore. Premium formats including IMAX, 4DX, Dolby Cinema, ICE and EPIQ had Rs 8.83 crore from 2 percent of shows.

Overseas figures in print are older than Monday evening's India tracker. The Indian Express on 29 October, citing overseas advance figures, put the international advance at $2.58 million: North America $1.91 million, the UK and Ireland $268,800, Australia and New Zealand $248,300, Germany $86,400, and other markets $62,800. India Today on 2 November said a 31 October report put overseas advance bookings at about $3.5 million (Rs 33.23 crore) across available dates, with North America above $1 million in premiere pre-sales. The Express used Ranbir Kapoor's Animal as a benchmark: $13.19 million overseas in its opening weekend, of which North America was $6.52 million, per Sacnilk.

What the early reviews actually say

Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama, 31 October, 5.0/5. The review calls the film magnificent and says it does justice to the epic. Adarsh praises the scale, Ranbir Kapoor's composure, Sai Pallavi, and Yash as a formidable Ravana. He credits A.R. Rahman for the songs and Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman for the background score, and DNEG for the visual effects. The line he led with: "Ramayana is not merely a film; IT'S AN EXPERIENCE. It is a film that makes India proud." The review ends by looking ahead to the second part, "which arrives in Diwali 2028."

IndieWire, Christian Zilko, 30 October, grade B. The review is of Ramayana: Rise of a Legend. Zilko praises the scale, the production value and the score, and writes that Hans Zimmer is lending his talents to an Indian film for the first time. The criticism is structural: so many scenes play as a climax that the film has little room for quieter time with the characters. The on-page grade is B.

IGN, Siddhant Adlakha, updated 31 October. India Today reported the score as 4/10. The review this desk read is of the English dub. Adlakha writes that the filmmakers used in-house generative AI, which he says is called Brahma A.I., to match lips to the English dialogue, and that the result looks like exaggerated mouth movements. His verdict describes a clunky, AI lip-synced English version that cuts out most of the musical sequences and ends on a cliffhanger before the rescue of Sita really begins. He finds Yash's Ravana the character with some complexity, and calls this depiction of Rama too boring to root for. He also says the Hindi version is about 30 minutes longer than the 162-minute cut he saw.

India Today's account of the Los Angeles premiere said early viewers praised the scale, the visual effects and the performances, especially Yash and Ranbir, and that others raised pacing, music and emotional depth. It said Screen Rant appreciated the technical achievement. The Indian Express, reporting premiere reactions on 29 October, quoted viewers who liked the visuals and questioned the English dub, including one who asked whether AI had been used to alter mouth movements. That was before the embargoed reviews above.

Who made it, and when Part 2 is supposed to come

India Today credits the screenplay to Shridhar Raghavan and Tiwari, and the music to Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman. The producing combination, in India Today and The Indian Express, is Prime Focus Studios with DNEG and Monster Mind Creations.

The principal cast, across those reports and Bollywood Hungama: Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana, Sunny Deol as Hanuman, and Ravi Dubey as Lakshman. Hungama's review and news copy spell the actor Ravie Dubey. iDiva identifies Arun Govil as King Dashrath and Rakul Preet Singh as Shurpanakha. India Today also names Lara Dutta, Indira Krishnan, Kajal Aggarwal, Vivek Oberoi and Shobana.

Part 2 is where the sources diverge.

• iDiva, 31 October: the sequel is expected on Diwali 2027.
• The Indian Express, 29 October: the second instalment is planned for a 2028 release.
• Taran Adarsh's review, 31 October: the second part "arrives in Diwali 2028."
• India Today, 24 October: producer Namit Malhotra was reported to be considering a move from Diwali 2027 to Diwali 2028 so the war sequences could have more filming time. The same report said the makers had not confirmed a revised date.

A Bollywood Hungama scoop, which India Today's 24 October piece was following, quoted a source saying the second film needs more shooting because the war is where the scale sits, and that a new date would be announced in the post-credits of Part 1. That is a source talking to a trade outlet, not a dated poster from the producers. Until the makers publish one date, Diwali 2027 and Diwali 2028 are both still in print.

What to watch next

1. Thursday, 5 November. Sacnilk had Rs 27.97 crore in for opening day by 6:48 pm Monday, including blocked seats. The opening-day gross will show how much of that was real, and how much walk-up adds.
2. Sunday bookings. They were part of an afternoon Sacnilk note that put the cumulative past Rs 50 crore, and they are not a line in the 6:48 pm four-date table.
3. Hindi reviews after release. The 4/10 and the B are responses to the English cut. Adarsh's 5 stars is the major Hindi trade review out so far.
4. A Part 2 date from the producers, including whatever the post-credits actually put on screen.
5. Overseas against Animal. The Express benchmark is $13.19 million for an opening weekend. The latest overseas advance figure in the reports read here is the 31 October estimate of about $3.5 million, which is advance sales, not a weekend total.

Part 1 reaches theatres on Thursday with a U certificate, a 195-minute Hindi cut, and an India advance book Sacnilk put at Rs 58.14 crore by Monday evening. The reviews already in public do not describe the same experience, and the year of Part 2 is still written two ways.

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This explainer uses Sacnilk's Ramayana advance page as updated at 7:20 pm IST on 2 November 2026 (data as of 6:48 pm IST), India Today's 2 November account of the 6 am Sacnilk cut and of the Los Angeles premiere, Bollywood Hungama's 30 October report on the CBFC certificate and Taran Adarsh's 31 October review, iDiva's 31 October certificate and Part 2 note, The Indian Express on 29 October for overseas advance and premiere reactions, IGN's review by Siddhant Adlakha, and IndieWire's review by Christian Zilko. India Today's 24 October report is the source for the unconfirmed Part 2 shift. Advance figures move through the day. Blocked seats are included where stated.