The $500 million gamble to make India’s ‘Ramayana’ a global phenomenon

By Thomas Page, CNN

London (CNN) — Namit Malhotra looks awfully relaxed for a man taking a $500 million gamble.

Reclining into a sofa in a discreet London office, the movie producer bats away questions about the box office potential and estimated price tag of his two-part blockbuster adaptation of the Hindu epic, “The Ramayana.”

“I’m not motivated by the bean-counter logic of, ‘How much money did we make or not make,” he said. “If we don’t make money with the movies, we’ll make it in the merchandise. If we don’t make it in the merchandise, we’ll make it in the theme park. If we don’t make it in the theme park, we’ll make it some other way.

“This is the story of Lord Ram, OK? There is no version of this where people don’t like (the movies) and it does not drive economic upside.”

“The Ramayana” — or at least this version of it (there are hundreds) — tells the story of Rama, a divine prince who answers the call to defeat Ravana, a demon king whose ambition and power threatened the gods themselves. The source text is a more than 2,000-year-old epic poem, attributed to Hindu sage Valmiki, which recounts a cosmic Manichean battle with a list of heroes longer than “Avengers: Doomsday.” It’s a story that generations of Indians have grown up on, and one that has been adapted many times before, including a beloved 1980s TV serial that ran for over a year. But the epic has never been told on this scale, nor with a global audience in mind.

I first met Malhotra in spring, months out from last Thursday’s release of part one, “Ramayana: Rise of a Legend.” He is the CEO of eight-time Oscar-winning British visual effects studio DNEG and founder of Mumbai-based Prime Focus Studios. Talkative and patriotic, Malhotra is a third-generation filmmaker gunning to expand India’s cinematic clout and redefine what audiences think about films from the world’s most populous country. And, unlike most in the movie business, he’s fronting his dream with his own cash.

“It’s all my money,” he said. “I have all the risk … I’m going all in.”

“Ramayana” is the most expensive Indian film production ever, though an average of $250 million per film puts it in the same ballpark as your typical Marvel movie (or some of the more profligate efforts by streaming giants). However, the most money an Indian film has ever made at the global box office is $304 million — 2016’s “Dangal,” starring Aamir Khan. Factor in “Ramayana’s” globe-hopping marketing campaign and the odds appear stacked against it recouping costs in cinemas. But with the potential wild card of an (as-yet-confirmed) box office release in China — where “Dangal” grossed 64% of its global take — anything is possible.

Malhotra has leveraged his little black book to realize this passion project. He hired “Dangal” director Nitesh Tiwari to write and direct both parts. He cast lead actors from across India’s multilingual cinema industries: Hindi star Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Kannada-speaking actor Yash as Ravana, and Tamil and Teluga star Sai Pallavi as Rama’s wife Sita. He also recruited the cream of Hollywood’s craft departments to bring his vision to life, and half of Bollywood to build it. He asked Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman to buddy up on the score and put DNEG — whose credits this year include “The Odyssey” and “Dune: Part Three” — in charge of visual effects.

“It should be mounted with the resources and the stars and the director and music like any big Hollywood tentpole,” said Malhotra. “Because until we do that, we will always be the have-nots. We will always feel like we tried and we didn’t get there.”

Part one was shot mostly on soundstages in Mumbai. As one might expect for a story featuring a flying palace, demon warriors and a winged elephant, Airavata, the film is an CGI-heavy spectacle. “I’ve never done a movie which had so much visual effects,” said Yash, who also co-produced.

The special effect that has made the most headlines is the AI-assisted lip-synced dubbing, from Hindi to English, for the international release. Malhotra said the actors recorded their lines in English and that their voices aren’t AI generated. But a combination of motion capture and AI was used to match mouth and facial movements to the new speech.

Overseeing the process was Brahma AI, an Indian tech company valued at $2 billion that is part of DNEG Group. “It’s taken us over a year, and millions of dollars spent” to make the English dub, said Malhotra.

Internationally, “Ramayana” is being billed as India’s answer to “Avatar” or “The Lord of the Rings.” One fundamental difference is that it is a religious narrative.

“We ourselves are believers,” said Tiwari, speaking of his and Malhotra’s shared Hindu faith.

“When you have (the) sensibilities of billions of people attached to an epic, you have to tread very cautiously,” he said. Tiwari explained that the screenplay is based on the two most popular versions of the Ramayana, and included elements from others too. “But everything is from the scriptures,” he clarified.

Films inspired by the Ramayana are not guaranteed slam drunks. Just three years ago, big-budget action film “Adipurush” bombed at the box office amid public backlash. Malhotra’s “Ramayana” will face intense scrutiny by India’s cinemagoers, and all eyes are on Kapoor as Rama, an idealized hero broadly worshipped by Hindus.

The Bollywood star, first known for romantic comedies, and recently action dramas, said the responsibility was “daunting” and that he was reluctant to take on Rama. “There is a certain professional and personal baggage that I come with,” Kapoor explained. “People have been seeing me on screen for the last 18 years playing different parts.”

“I didn’t have confidence in myself,” he admitted. “Will I be able to fit the part? Will I be able to do justice to it? Will the audience accept me? There will always be a conversation, like, ‘He’s not fit to play this part.’”

Kapoor said “sense prevailed” and he signed on. “I don’t think I will ever, ever get (another) opportunity like this to tell a story like this. It’s not about the money spent, or the fact that it was going to be a global film. It’s just being a part of a story which we worship. Our value systems, our moral codes have been derived from these stories.”

“Ramayana” arrives amid a recent wave of big-screen adaptations of ancient epics and mythology. Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” based on Homer’s epic, drew audiences to theaters this summer, while Chinese animation “Ne Zha 2,” inspired by Chinese mythology, became the world’s highest-grossing movie of 2025. The latter grossed $2.2 billion in China alone, aided by a Lunar New Year release and reports that companies booked screenings for employees and subsidized tickets.

Part one of “Ramayana” was released just days before Diwali, which is associated with Rama’s return home from exile. The filmmakers will have been hoping to seize on the celebratory mood, and are pitching the movie to the whole nation, not just the Hindi-speaking population.

Some of the creative decisions have been calculated to broaden appeal. “Ramayana is every Indian’s story,” said Malhotra, explaining why he cast actors from across the country. “What was very important was for us to really make it feel like (the film is) from India first; that it’s not from Bollywood.”

Joyojeet Pal, professor of information at the University of Michigan, saw sense in touting the movie as an industry unifier.

“It is important to do that, because a lot of the discourse around the spate of nationalistic films out right now is that they present a sectarian view of India that tends to be dominated by a North Indian, Hindu-oriented narrative,” he explained.

“There is another, more complicated side to the narrative in that the main antagonist of the dominant version of ‘The Ramayana,’ Ravana, is seen as a heroic character in parts of the south,” Pal added. “Thus, presenting a pan-Indian narrative is valuable as part of its branding.”

Yash predicted lively scenes in Indian movie theaters come opening weekend. “I think it’ll turn into a stadium there, or like a music concert,” he said.

“There is a collective experience that (Indian audiences) all want to feel at the cinemas,” added Kapoor. “They root for you; at the same time, when you disappoint them, they will also criticize you. And we love that. We love the fact that they have the ability to do both. The power is in the audience’s hands.

“It’s a dream job to be an actor in Indian cinema, and we hope that we can continue being actors and continue to be accepted there,” he said.

How “Ramayana: Rise of a Legend” will be received abroad, and if it can surpass diaspora appeal, will be its biggest test. “In India we love world cinema,” said Pallavi. “So, it’ll be nice if it’s (the other way) around.”

The film grossed more $55 million globally on its opening weekend, including $12.2 million in the US, according to Deadline. While it now appears unlikely that “Ramayana” will beat Hindi record-breaker “Dhurandhar: The Revenge,” which grossed $115.3 million worldwide in its first week March, it is nonetheless on course to join India’s highest grossing movies of all time.

Back in Malhotra’s office earlier this year, the producer had been buoyant. “I don’t want to sound spiritual as a businessman,” he said. “But honestly … you can’t do this right and not succeed.”

“To me, there’s one fundamental truth: that if we do ‘Ramayana’ well, and if people like it, financially we’ll be fine,” he added. “That’s my fundamental belief. There’s no way to argue it. There’s no way to debate it. And I don’t think anybody in the world is smart enough to counter it with scientific or commercial logic.”

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