Prime Focus shares fell as much as 7% to an intraday low of ₹285 on the BSE on Thursday, as the much-anticipated epic Ramayana: Rise of a Legend made its theatrical debut amid enormous expectations. According to The Economic Times, the stock decline came despite high expectations and a reported ₹4,000-crore budget, as early box-office collections came in below trade projections, putting the spotlight on the film's opening performance.
According to the latest available tracking data reported by Sacnilk, Ramayana collected ₹9.72 crore in net box-office revenue in India on its opening day, while gross collections stood at ₹11.47 crore. The film is currently being screened across 5,150 shows nationwide, as reported by ET Now. Trade analysts had forecast a much stronger opening, with several projections placing the film's first-day gross collections above ₹100 crore across languages. However, advance booking data reveals the film sold over 3.25 lakh tickets at PVR Inox and Cinepolis combined for its opening day, ranking it 12th in all-time opening-day advance bookings and 6th among films released after 2020, trailing films like Dhurandhar: The Revenge, Pathaan, and Jawan.
The film has been released on 59,000 screens worldwide, with 9,000 screens in India and 50,000 overseas, as reported by Sacnilk. Looking at advance booking figures, Ramayana has already crossed ₹100 crore in advance bookings in India alone, while overseas pre-sales have touched around $5.6 million (₹52 crore). According to trade analysts, the film's worldwide advance booking has now gone past the ₹150-crore mark even before release. Looking at the advance booking figures, Hindi is leading the advance bookings, while Kannada and Telugu are also seeing strong demand, driven by Yash as Ravana and the film's pan-India release.
Titled Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, the film is planned as a two-part cinematic adaptation of the Indian epic and has been produced by Namit Malhotra in collaboration with Yash's Monster Mind Creations. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, the film is an adaptation of Valmiki's Ramayana and is backed by Malhotra's Prime Focus, with visuals from DNEG, the Oscar-winning company behind films like Dune and Inception. According to The Economic Times, Ranbir Kapoor plays Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi portrays Goddess Sita, while Yash essays the role of Ravana. The ensemble cast also features Sunny Deol as Hanuman and Ravi Dubey as Lakshman. The film's music has been composed by AR Rahman and Hans Zimmer, and is released in five languages — Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
As reported by The Economic Times, the film's opening credits indicate that JioHotstar has secured its digital rights. However, Ramayana is reportedly expected to be offered through a dedicated video-on-demand purchase option after its theatrical run, rather than being included in the platform's regular subscription catalogue. This means subscribers may have to pay an additional fee to watch the film, even if they already have an active JioHotstar membership. The second instalment is slated to arrive around Diwali 2028, although the makers are yet to announce an exact release date.
