Ramayana Crosses Rs 20 Crore in Advance Bookings as Ranbir Kapoor Opens Up on Playing Rama

Ten days before it reaches cinemas, Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana has already turned advance booking into a headline of its own. By Monday, October 26, the film had crossed Rs 20 crore in worldwide advance gross, with about 2.15 lakh tickets sold across 4,658 screens. Domestic bookings stood at Rs 11.81 crore, or Rs 9.59 crore once block bookings are excluded. Bookings opened in India on Dussehra, October 20 — just six days earlier, before many key theatres have even opened advance windows.

The language split tells its own story. Hindi accounts for 86% of the domestic advance total at Rs 10.16 crore from 4,269 shows, while Kannada is second at 11% with Rs 1.27 crore — a result trade watchers link to Yash, who plays Ravana, and his huge Karnataka following. Telugu, despite Sai Pallavi playing Sita, sits at just 3% with Rs 37.85 lakh from 54 shows so far, though that should move once more southern screens open. Maharashtra leads domestically despite the highest ticket prices, followed by Delhi; West Bengal, where the film is tax-free, ranks only sixth.

Premium formats are doing much of the heavy lifting. IMAX alone contributes 23% of advance earnings at Rs 2.74 crore, even though it accounts for only 3.4% of shows scheduled so far. Other premium formats are also selling strongly. The pricing at the top end is eye-catching: recliner seats for evening and night IMAX 3D shows at a leading Mumbai multiplex are reported at more than Rs 3,000 on release day. That premium skew cuts both ways: fans will pay for spectacle, but the opening will lean on big-city, big-screen audiences first.

Internationally, the film has already earned $2 million, about Rs 18.99 crore, in overseas advance bookings. North America leads with $750,000, including $550,000 for premiere shows alone, followed by the United Kingdom at $90,000 and Australia at $60,000. Sony Pictures International is handling overseas distribution, while Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions distributes the Hindi version in India. Trade estimates put the India opening above Rs 110 crore, including paid previews on the evening of November 4, with gross earnings reaching Rs 132 crore on release day itself — and a worldwide opening above Rs 200 crore on November 5.

The numbers arrived on the same day as a very different kind of headline. Appearing on a Diwali special episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor spoke about the weight of playing Rama. He described his first reaction as fear and self-doubt — questioning whether he was worthy of a role tied to the faith of crores of people — before that fear turned into gratitude. He said the part coincided with becoming a father for the first time, to his daughter Raha, and with a chance to understand the epic more deeply and to grow as a person, not just as an actor. He added that while no one can become like Rama, learning from his ideals is itself something significant.

Beyond one opening weekend, a Rs 20 crore advance total ten days out, driven by premium formats, suggests this is being sold — and bought — as an event, not just a film. Still ahead: whether remaining theatres and the November 4 paid previews push the total higher, whether Hindi dominance holds as southern bookings open, and whether premium pricing helps or limits family audiences over the Diwali weekend ending November 8. Part two is already dated for Diwali 2027, so how part one lands will shape one of Indian cinema’s biggest franchise bets. For more star stories, browse our Did You Know collection.