‘Not Like Baahubali, we're aiming for Avatar, Avengers Scale’: Namit Malhotra on making Rs 4,000 Crore Ramayana

There has been a lot of discussion around Ramayana. Namit Malhotra, the producer backing this huge epic on the big screen, has recently opened up about the making of the film and even addressed speculations of those who have been wondering what the need for another adaptation was. Malhotra has talked about the film’s scale and ambition and stated that the audience has not seen the retelling of the story at such a huge scale.

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana is the biggest Indian film in terms of scale and budget. After its world premiere in Los Angeles last week, Ramayana held a special screening in Mumbai on Tuesday, attended by the cast and crew, as well as members of the film fraternity.

Inpics: Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Sunny Deol attend the special screening of Ramayana

Namit Malhotra on making Ramayana

At the screening, Malhotra spoke to news agency PTI and stated, “In India, there are a lot of questions like, 'Why are they making the Ramayana when there have been so many Ramayanas? We already know the story.' And I'm like, 'Listen, we're making it because we want to show you the version of this story that you've never seen.' No television show, no street play, no Ram Leela has ever shown you the Ramayana on this scale and with this spectacle that we are making...Much like an Avatar or an Avengers movie, or think about Spider-Man or The Odyssey. We're putting Ramayana right up there next to all of those spectacles.”

Ramayana has been reportedly made on a budget of Rs 4000 crore, making it the most expensive film in the world.

The film’s VFX has been done by from eight-time Oscar-winning studio DNEG and Ramayana is being marketed as India's first film equivalent of Hollywood blockbusters.

Addressing the film’s global ambition and cale, Malhotra added, “If you think about the West, they are the most potent audience for anything that's got a grand epic spectacle. And that's just not how Indian films have been made. So while India makes terrific Indian movies, whether it is 'Baahubali', 'Dhurandhar', or any of the big, super-duper hit films, they are not spectacles the way Hollywood thinks of spectacles. We are first trying to narrow that gap down and saying, 'If you can do it, we can do it too.' There's no reason for us to have any discrepancy. So, every person in Hollywood should acknowledge that India can also do something as good, if not bigger, than what they do.”

About Ramayana

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit's Prime Focus and Yash's Monster Mind Creations, Ramayana stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, and Yash as Ravana. The film also features Ravie Dubey, Rakul Preet Singh, Vivek Oberoi, Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor. The first part is scheduled for worldwide release on November 5, 2026, while the second part is set for Diwali 2027. The films will release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam across India.