Ramayana (2026): India’s Biggest ₹4000 Crore Epic Film – Cast, Budget, Release Date & Full Details

Ramayana (2026): India’s Biggest ₹4000 Crore Epic Film – Cast, Budget, Release Date & Full Details Ramayana is an upcoming Indian epic film, produced by Namit Malhotra and directed by Nitesh Tiwari, with the screenplay written by Sridhar Raghavan. The film is based on the Ramayana, one of the most important ancient Indian texts in Hinduism. It is the first installment of a planned two-part series.

Ranbir Kapoor (as Ram), Ravi Dubey (as Lakshman), Sai Pallavi (as Sita), Sunny Deol (as Hanuman), and Yash (as Ravan) are playing the main roles. Other actors include Arun Govil, Lara Dutta, Vivek Oberoi, Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh, Kunal Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Sheeba Chaddha, Indira Krishnan, and Shobhna.

This film has been made with the biggest Indian movie budget so far, ₹2600-4000 crore. It has been produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studio, Yash’s Monster Mind Creations, and Charles Roven’s American studio Atlas Entertainment, but the entire shooting and editing took place in India. The visual effects (VFX) have been handled by the British-Indian studio DNEG. This film is set to release in India on November 6, 2026, during Diwali.

The film’s music has been created together by world-famous German composer Hans Zimmer (who is working on his first Indian project) and A. R. Rahman.

Artist

Artist	Role	Artist	Role
Ranbir Kapoor	Ram	Vivek Oberoi	Vidyutjihva
Ravi Dubey	Lakshman	Adinath Kothare	Bharat
Sai Pallavi	Sita	Sheeba Chaddha	Manthara
Sunny Deol	Hanuman	Shishir Sharma	Vashishtha
Yash	Ravan	Ajinkya Deo	Vishwamitra
Anupam Kher	Jatayu	Sonia Balani	Urmila
Lara Dutta	Kaikeyi	Mohit Raina	Shiva
Arun Govil	Dashrath	Kiara Sadh	young Sita
Indira Krishnan	Kaushalya	Harish Uthman	Vibhishan
Kunal Kapoor	Indra	Raghav Juyal	Meghnad
Kajal Aggarwal	Mandodari	Faisal Malik	Kumbhkaran
Rakul Preet Singh	Shurpanakha	Saurabh Sachdeva	Marich

Origin

In May 2017, producers Allu Aravind, Namit Malhotra, and Madhu Mantena announced their collaboration to adapt the Hindu epic Ramayana into a live-action feature film trilogy. They mentioned that the script had been in development for about a year. The project was envisioned as a multilingual presentation in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Odia, Sinhala, and English, with plans to shoot it in 3D.

[32] Allu Arvind expressed his ambition to bring the Ramayana to the big screen in the ‘most spectacular way’ while also taking on the responsibility of adapting this epic into a trilogy. Namit Malhotra, whose company Prime Focus contributed visual effects to Hollywood films like ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Transformers,’ ‘X-Men: Apocalypse,’ and ‘The Martian,’ saw the potential for this trilogy to set new global standards for Indian cinema. In February 2018, Madhu Mantena revealed that the inspiration to create a film series came from the life and work of famous Indian comic book writer Anant Pai, who created the Amar Chitra Katha comics.

He said that this film series is their collective effort to retell Indian culture to new generations with the help of the latest technology and visual effects in ‘all possible audiovisual glory.’ The previous widely recognized adaptations of the Ramayan were television series, especially Ramanand Sagar’s ‘Ramayan’ (1987-88), but this time the creators wanted to bring the Ramayan to the big screen as a cinematic spectacle.

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Development

In July 2019, Nitesh Tiwari and Ravi Udyawar teamed up to co-direct the trilogy, while Sridhar Raghavan was appointed to write the script.[37] Nitesh Tiwari cited the significant upgrades in visual effects since the 1987-88 Ramayana TV series as a major reason for taking on this project. He said, ‘Our oldest, or earliest memories (of the epic) are still about 30 years old. We really haven’t seen Ramayana in the way it should be told.’ Besides the technical possibilities, he was also motivated by the story to join the team, which, according to him, had a ‘grand belief’ in Indian culture, and the fact that the producers were fully prepared to execute it in a ‘very interesting way.’

Udyavar also mentioned that his decision to join this project was inspired by the same sense of responsibility towards his children. He recalled that when he told his son what he and his team were working on, his son ‘jumped around all day’ thinking about how Ravana and Kumbhakarna would look. He said the biggest thrill for him was when his son told him, ‘Hanuman is cooler than Superman.’

Tiwari said that the epic’s appeal lies in its cast of characters, especially in Rama’s character, ‘an ideal leader, husband, father, and son.’ Meanwhile, Udayver felt that the magic of the epic is in its shape-shifting demons, which, in his view, even a small child would enjoy. Tiwari confirmed that whatever is said and shown in the movies will bear the stamp of authenticity. He said that beyond Rama and Ravana, every character—whether it is Sita, Lakshman, or Hanuman—carries some meaningful message, which makes it necessary to shape the Ramayana into a trilogy.

The production team had artists from all over India create detailed illustrations as references for the film’s settings, costumes, actors, and action. The aim of this project was to include actors from Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, and Punjabi cinema, as part of a broader strategy to attract both pan-Indian and global audiences. Initially, the film series was planned with an estimated budget of 5 billion rupees. The production team planned to start filming by 2020, with the first installment set to release in 2021. The filmmakers intended to keep relatively short gaps between each part of the trilogy to maintain continuity in the story.

Writing and visual development

In November 2019, Tiwari said that Raghavan had been writing the screenplay for the past three years, with guidance from several scholars and pundits who had extensive knowledge of the scriptures, to make the epic relevant for modern audiences. In April 2020, he said that they were carefully identifying the sensitive aspects of the story that should remain untouched, so as not to hurt potential public sentiments, while also determining areas where they could take limited cinematic liberty to enhance the overall viewing experience of the film.

Tiwari explained that he and his team wanted to present the story in a way that would excite young viewers like their kids, who are ‘Avengers fans,’ while also keeping the trust of older audiences like their mother-in-law so that it would be ‘so captivating that they’d say, I’ve never seen the Ramayana like this.’ He described the film as technically heavily prepared, because the epic’s magical elements, like talking animals or enchanted forests, gave them a chance to beautifully bring to the screen a world that, in their view, had never been seen before.

In June 2021, Mantena said that he and his team were looking at the Ramayana not as a project, but as ‘a purpose, the purpose of telling the world the Ramayana in all its glory.’ He emphasized that they wanted to make the trilogy ‘as well as anything else in the world,’ and mentioned that his team was focusing on ‘even the smallest details of everything.’ He revealed that they were following the same process that James Cameron used for Avatar, and that over 200 artists from around the world had been working on the film for two years, including some Academy Award winners.

In July, Mantena elaborated on his vision for the trilogy, describing it as a linear retelling of the Ramayana from Valmiki’s perspective, including the epic’s sub-stories, while promising ‘a deep and beautiful world full of magnificent creatures like demons, asuras, Garuda, etc.’ In September 2021, Mantena said that they were looking at the works of artists like Raja Ravi Varma, who, according to them, had interpreted the epic ‘in their beautiful ways.’ He mentioned that they were following Valmiki’s Ramayana and its descriptions to ensure an accurate portrayal.

Artist selection

In July 2021, Madhu said that they were planning to announce the cast by Diwali that year, promising ‘the biggest cast in the history of Indian cinema so far,’ featuring the best actors in terms of performance. He emphasized that the characters of Ram, Hanuman, Ravan, Sita, and Lakshman would be ‘larger than life’ and that he would cast actors from all over the country. Explaining the reason behind this decision, he elaborated, ‘This (Ramayan) is not about the North or the South, it’s about uniting the country. We are doing it as India.’

Filming

The main photography of the film began in April 2024. On April 5, photos from the film’s set were leaked, showing Arun Govil, Lara Dutta, and Sheeba Chaddha in their respective roles, and Nitesh Tiwari directing the film. After that, the producers implemented a strict no-phone policy on the film set. On April 27, photos from the set leaked again, this time showing Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi in their respective roles, which led to speculation on social media whether the photos were being leaked by the producers themselves to generate publicity and get public opinion on the costumes.

In May, the film’s working title was revealed as ‘God Power’. In August, a social media video went viral showing acclaimed American movement coach Terry Notary, who confirmed that he was working as the action director for the film series. Filming was announced to be completed in November 2024. Filming for Part 2 began on January 19, 2025.

In May 2025, it was announced that acclaimed Hollywood stunt director Guy Norris, who had previously worked on films like ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, and ‘The Suicide Squad’, was brought on to choreograph the action scenes for the film and was working alongside Yash. In June 2025, it was revealed that Academy Award-winning Hollywood producer Charles Roven, who is also the founder of Atlas Entertainment, was joining Malhotra and Yash as a producer on the film.

Post-Production

It has been said that the film will stay in post-production for 600 days, making it one of the few global films that require such an extensive post-production timeframe.

Music

The film’s background soundtrack is being composed by Hans Zimmer. After creating music for many famous Hollywood movies, composer Zimmer is making his debut in Indian cinema as an original score composer with this film. The tunes of the film’s songs are being composed by A. R. Rahman, and the lyrics for the songs are written by Kumar Vishwas.

Marketing

On November 6, 2024, Malhotra officially announced ‘Ramayan’ through a poster, along with revealing the release dates for both films. Malhotra has repeatedly promoted the film as a global movie, presenting an Indian theme to the world. On several occasions, he has shared his vision for the film, stating his ambition for it to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with some of the world’s biggest spectacles like ‘Dune’ or ‘Avatar.’ He also claimed that he won’t make any excuses regarding budget or technical expertise—which have historically limited large-scale Indian productions from looking visually grand—while confidently promising some ‘never-before-seen’ scenes.

Performance

The movie will be released in theaters on Diwali in 2026.

Ramayana (2026): India’s Biggest ₹4000 Crore Epic Film – Cast, Budget, Release Date & Full Details

Ramayana (2026): India’s Biggest ₹4000 Crore Epic Film – Cast, Budget, Release Date & Full Details Ramayana (2026): India’s Biggest ₹4000 Crore Epic Film – Cast, Budget, Release Date & Full Details Ramayana (2026): India’s Biggest ₹4000 Crore Epic Film – Cast, Budget, Release Date & Full Details Ramayana (2026): India’s Biggest ₹4000 Crore Epic Film – Cast, Budget, Release Date & Full Details

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