The much-awaited trailer of the upcoming Ramayana movie was released globally on July 30, marking a significant milestone for Indian cinema. Keeping to the auspicious Brahma Muhurat, the four-minute and nine-second trailer was released at 4:15 AM on the film's official YouTube page with the tagline "The Ramayana Trailer. This is where the EPIC BEGINS." The movie is considered India's most expensive film with a budget of over ₹4,000 crore ($417 million). The VFX-heavy project will be released as a two-part epic, with Part 1 scheduled for Diwali 2026 and Part 2 for Diwali 2027. The trailer opens with visuals of Yash as Ravana taking over his kingdom, then shows Ranbir being introduced by his father Dashrath (Arun Govil) to everyone, with Rama vowing to protect mankind even if it means losing his own life. The film promises to be an epic stand-off between Rama and Ravana, with high-octane visuals and fantastical action.
Prime Focus Studios (NSE: PFOCUS) serves as the lead producer of Ramayana and maintains a strategic ownership in the project's visual effects capabilities. The company acquired a majority stake of 88.2% in Double Negative (DNEG) in 2014, which currently contributes more than 80% of Prime Focus's consolidated revenue. DNEG, a UK-based VFX company, has worked on blockbuster Hollywood movies including Inception, Interstellar, Dune, and The Odyssey, winning eight Oscars for visual effects across various high-budget productions. The film is produced by Namit Malhotra's Prime Focus Studios and Yash's Monster Mind Creations, with DNEG handling visual effects and Oscar-winning composers Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman providing the score. The VFX work delivers larger-than-life graphics and seamless CGI that blend naturally with the live-action performances.
The Ramayana trailer features an impressive ensemble cast led by Ranbir Kapoor as Prince Rama, Yash as demon king Ravana, and Sai Pallavi as Sita. The story follows exiled prince Rama and his consort Sita through their 14-year exile, as Sita's abduction by Ravana sets in motion an epic war between righteousness and evil. The production team includes Nitesh Tiwari as director, whose Dangal remains the highest-grossing Indian film ever made, and Shridhar Raghavan as screenwriter. The film stars Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman, Lara Dutta as Kaikeyi, Rakul Preet Singh as Shurpanakha, Kajal Aggarwal as Mandodari, Arun Govil as King Dashrath, Vivek Oberoi as Vidyutjihva, Kunal Kapoor as Lord Indra, Adinath Kothare as Bharata, and Anupam Kher lends his voice to Jatayu. The trailer reveals glimpses of the film's emotional moments between Rama and Sita, their exile, epic battles, and key supporting characters, with the focus remaining on the central conflict between compassionate Rama and his perfect nemesis in Yash's Ravana.
The Ramayana trailer was released globally on July 30, 2026, in five Indian languages including Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam. The film will be distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures with North India distribution by Dharma Productions. Prime Focus shares have demonstrated strong market performance in anticipation of the Ramayana trailer launch. According to Upstox, the stock has gained over 35% in the current month and 98% in the last 12 months, with over 380% growth in the last five years. The company attracted significant investor attention in September 2025 when marquee investors including Ramesh Damani, Madhusudan Kela and Utpal Sheth purchased a cumulative 3.3% stake in the company. The current market capitalization stands at approximately ₹23,000 crore, with DNEG's unlisted valuation of around $2.5 billion matching the parent company's market cap.
Despite strong business fundamentals, Prime Focus faces significant financial challenges that could impact its ability to capitalize on the Ramayana project. As reported by Upstox, the company reported net losses of ₹488 crore in FY24 and ₹458 crore in FY25, before returning to profitability with net profit of ₹301 crore in FY26. The company's total gross debt increased to ₹5,062 crore as of March 31, 2026, representing a nearly 20% increase from FY25's ₹4,234 crore. Annual finance costs exceed ₹500 crore, consuming a significant portion of operating profits due to high debt obligations. The company plans to reduce debt by $150-200 million over the next 12 months through monetization of investment content assets and operational improvements.
Prime Focus's success remains heavily dependent on international markets, particularly Hollywood studios that provide substantial VFX spending opportunities. According to Upstox, the company's revenue primarily comes from Hollywood movies and studios, making it vulnerable to budget cuts or industry disruptions. The company has diversified into AI business by launching Brahma AI, an enterprise AI content platform in partnership with Google Cloud. Ramayana boasts one of the biggest ensembles assembled for an Indian film, with the epic saga set to leverage cutting-edge AI-powered lip-sync and voice technology to release in 40–50 international languages without relying on traditional subtitles or poorly synced dubbing. Developed by DNEG, the team is using its proprietary AI pipeline to digitally adjust actors' lip and mouth movements to seamlessly match translated dialogue in languages such as English, Spanish, Mandarin and Japanese. The company's strategic position in the Ramayana project, combined with its majority stake in DNEG, positions it well for future VFX opportunities in both Indian and international markets.
