- Ramayana: Part 1 crossed ₹1,000 crore worldwide in eight days of release
- Producer Namit Malhotra's theatrical share estimated at ₹400–450 crore so far
- Visual effects handled by Malhotra's DNEG studio, a major budget component
On Thursday, November 12, Ramayana: Part 1 crossed Rs 1,000 crore worldwide in eight days. Only ten Indian films had reached that mark before it. By a rough trade calculation, Namit Malhotra's film may still be only a fifth of the way to the worldwide gross it would need to recover its assumed budget through theatres alone.
Malhotra had made the stakes personal months before release. “It's all my money ... I'm going all in,” he said.
The ticket counter tells you how many people took him up on the bet.
The Rs 1,000 Crore and the Rs 5,000 Crore Question
Ramayana had grossed an estimated Rs 1,033.55 crore worldwide by Day 8, including Rs 358.50 crore overseas. Monday was the breakout. It reportedly became only the second Bollywood film after Dhurandhar 2 to collect more than Rs 100 crore net in India in a single day.
The producer collects a fraction of what audiences spend. Cinemas keep a share of India net collections, and overseas distributors take their fees. A broad trade estimate puts the producer's theatrical share so far at Rs 400–450 crore. The actual figure has yet to be disclosed.
The Rs 5,000 crore target rests on two assumptions. If Part 1 accounts for half the reported Rs 4,000 crore cost of the two films, its budget would be Rs 2,000 crore. Apply the trade's rough rule of thumb of 2.5 times the budget, and the theatrical target comes to about Rs 5,000 crore worldwide. At Day 8, the film had covered about a fifth of that distance. The actual break-even depends on what Part 1 cost, the distribution terms and how much the film earns from its other rights.
The Biggest Cheque Went to His Own Studio
A flying palace, demon armies and a winged elephant all point to the same line in the budget. On a film built around visual effects, the studio doing that work is part of Malhotra's own group.
Malhotra heads Prime Focus and its visual-effects arm DNEG, the London studio with eight Oscars for work on films including Dune, Interstellar and Blade Runner 2049. Prime Focus Studios produced Ramayana in association with DNEG, which reportedly accounts for more than 80% of Prime Focus's consolidated revenue.
For the film, visual effects are a major cost. For DNEG, they keep artists working and give the studio a reason to develop tools it can use on future projects. The group has yet to disclose how much of the budget went to DNEG. Work billed within the group does not by itself recover the cash spent making the film.
Malhotra tested the model on Brahmastra, where DNEG took a financial stake because it was “going beyond the scope of just being a vendor”. With Ramayana, the group took on the producer's risk itself. Malhotra has said the film follows his preferred spending split. Roughly 20% goes to the writer, director and cast, with the remaining 80% going to production and marketing.
The English-language release doubles as a demonstration for Brahma AI, a DNEG Group company reportedly valued at $2 billion. Malhotra said the AI-assisted lip-sync dub took more than a year and cost millions of dollars. Every studio considering how to sell a film in another language can now see the technology working at feature length.
Malhotra has recalled financing work for Western clients when he was still running a garage start-up and borrowing in India at 20%. He described Ramayana as low risk by comparison. “I'd rather take a risk that I control,” he said.
He Reportedly Said No to Rs 700 Crore
In April, Malhotra reportedly turned down a Rs 700 crore post-theatrical digital offer for both films, described at the time as the highest such offer for an Indian film. His team was reportedly holding out for Rs 1,000 crore.
By October, he had agreed to a different deal. After its theatrical run, Ramayana will go to JioHotstar as a pay-per-view rental, a first for the platform. A rental lets the film earn with each viewing. The payment terms remain private, including whether the deal carries a minimum guarantee.
Malhotra put theatres first. The film, he said, “should be experienced on the biggest screen possible, in IMAX 3D”. The rental gives him another window to sell the film once that run is over.
The broader Star Group and JioHotstar digital and satellite rights package was reportedly valued at Rs 450 crore, though the amount and scope remain unconfirmed. T-Series reportedly paid a Rs 75 crore refundable advance for the music rights to both parts.
Sony Pictures took on international distribution, including an English version, while Dharma Productions took on the Hindi-speaking market. The financial terms of both distribution deals are undisclosed.
The two reported rights figures add up to Rs 525 crore. One is unconfirmed and the other is refundable, so the amount Malhotra can count on keeping remains unclear. What he secured was a way to keep earning from audiences at home after the cinemas had taken their share.
Dalal Street Moved Before the First Show
Between June 25 and July 1, 2025, around the film's first look, Prime Focus shares reportedly rose more than 30%, from Rs 113.47 to Rs 149.69. After the July 3 teaser, they reportedly hit a record Rs 175. The company's market value rose by more than Rs 1,000 crore within days.
Ranbir Kapoor bought in through a preferential issue at Rs 120 a share. His investment was reportedly Rs 15 crore, with some accounts putting it at Rs 20 crore. Madhusudan Kela, Ramesh Damani and Utpal Sheth also reportedly took fresh positions.
For Malhotra, the rally created paper wealth. For Prime Focus, a higher valuation can improve the terms on which it raises equity and strengthen its hand with lenders. That matters for a company carrying Rs 5,062 crore in gross debt as of March 31, 2026, up nearly 20% in a year. Prime Focus reportedly posted revenue of Rs 3,599 crore and a loss of Rs 458 crore in FY25.
“Ramayana Is a Universe”
At a pre-release event in Hyderabad, Malhotra invoked Marvel, Star Wars and DC before laying out what he wanted to build. “Ramayana is a universe,” he said.
His list included video games, toys, apparel, gadgets, home furnishings, origin films, television series and animated features. It also stretched to theme-park attractions, a Broadway musical and virtual and augmented reality experiences. The proposed projects have no announced greenlights or dates. The two films will determine how much of that list gets made.
Part 2 has moved from Diwali 2027 to Diwali 2028. Malhotra said the response to Part 1 persuaded the team to take more time over the finale. The extra year also extends the carrying cost of money already spent. He has said the project began as a trilogy, with a third film dependent on how audiences respond.
China is another open question. A release there has yet to be confirmed. The market contributed nearly two-thirds of the worldwide gross of director Nitesh Tiwari's Dangal, which still holds the record for the highest-grossing Indian film.
The Bills Keep Coming
Day 8 collections fell 24.3% from Day 7. That is a normal weekday drop, though Ramayana reached Rs 1,000 crore more slowly than Pushpa 2 and Dhurandhar 2. The budget itself is unsettled. The Rs 4,000 crore figure for both parts comes from reports, and an earlier estimate put the cost at Rs 835 crore.
Eight days in, the film's estimated Rs 400–450 crore theatrical share leaves a large gap against the assumed Rs 2,000 crore cost of Part 1. The rights deals could narrow it. DNEG already has the work, Brahma AI has a feature-length showcase and Prime Focus has seen what investors will pay for a stake in the idea. Each of those gains sits on a different ledger.
Malhotra turned down a reported Rs 700 crore offer when he could still have put a price on the streaming rights and moved on. He chose to keep a share of what happens next. The first Rs 1,000 crore shows how many people were willing to buy a ticket. His bet is that enough of them will pay to watch it again, come back for the finale or buy something that lets them take a piece of it home.
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