Ramayana producer Namit Malhotra admits many in India ask why are they making another adaptation, compares film to Avatar, The Odyssey | Bollywood
Ramayana producer Namit Malhotra has admitted that many in India are wondering what the need is for another adaptation of the epic. The filmmaker has talked about the film's scale and ambition, saying it tells its story on a scale never seen before.
Namit Malhotra is the producer of Nitesh Tiwari's epic two-part adaptation of Ramayana.Namit Malhotra on Ramayana's scaleDirected 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.
There, Namit spoke to news agency PTI about what he hopes to achieve with the film. "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," Namit Malhotra told PTI.
Ramayana, made on a reported budget of ₹4000 crore, is one of the most expensive film productions in the world, not just in India. With VFX from eight-time Oscar-winning studio DNEG, it is being marketed as India's first film equivalent of Hollywood blockbusters. For its global release, the makers have partnered with Sony Pictures, which is giving it the widest release for any Indian film - in 70,000 screens.
Talking about the film's global ambitions, Namit 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.”
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 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.
Sony Pictures will handle global distribution, excluding India, while Dharma Productions will distribute the film in the Hindi-speaking market. The film is also planned for a worldwide IMAX release.
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More
