Ramayana is rewriting the rules of Indian cinema with jaw-dropping scale and ambition! With a massive all-star lineup featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Amitabh Bachchan, Sai Pallavi, Sunny Deol, and more, this two-part epic has officially claimed the title of the most expensive Indian film ever, with a combined budget of around Rs 4,000 crore (about $500 million).
Producer Namit Malhotra, the creative force behind the project, says his dream of creating immersive, cinematic universes was sparked by the visual wonder of Jurassic Park. Although he didn’t switch careers to direction, he founded Prime Focus, contributing to Hollywood hits like Inception, Dune, and Interstellar. Yet, he felt Indian stories got short shrift on the global stage.
In conversation with Prakhar Gupta on his podcast, Malhotra recalled, “All the films they saw us as were victims and we were poor and always less fortunate and treated poorly by the world. And I was like, no, that’s not who we are. That’s not the country I come from.”
That sense of misrepresentation fueled his decision to bring the Ramayana to screens on an epic level. “I want the entire world to see what I consider the greatest epic of all time.”
When asked who’s footing the bill, Malhotra was quick to clarify, “We’re funding it ourselves. We’re not taking anybody’s money.”
He admitted that when the idea took shape six or seven years ago, shortly after the pandemic, many thought it was pure madness. “To put it simply, it’ll be about $500 million by the time we’re done on both films put together, part one and part two, which is over Rs 4,000 crore.”
But for Malhotra, it’s worth every penny. He said, “We are making the largest film in the world for the greatest story, the greatest epic that the world should see. And I still think it’s cheaper than it costs to make some of the biggest Hollywood films.”
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios along with the 8-time Oscar-winning VFX studio DNEG, in association with Yash’s Monster Mind Creations, Ramayana is being filmed for IMAX and will be released worldwide in two parts: Part 1 in Diwali 2026 and Part 2 in Diwali 2027.
