Ramayana Part 1 Movie (2026): Cast, Release Date, Budget, Review, Trailer & Teaser

Projected to be the biggest movie of Bollywood in terms of budget, scale, and expectations, the Ramayana Part 1 Movie (2026) will carry the hopes of Indian cinema forward with its ambitious project. It is set to be released in a two-part epic saga, where Ramayana: Part 1 will hit the theaters during Diwali 2026. Makers have also made the bold claims that this movie will be as close to the authentic Srimad Valmiki Ramayana as possible, telling the tale of Lord Rama on the big screen like never before.

With a budget over Rs 4000 crore, the world-renowned team of DNEG behind its world-class CGI, and the top tier start cast featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Sai Pallavi, and Sunny Deol, Ramayana 2026 is aiming for the biggest global release possible for an Indian movie. We have complete info about the film’s budget, cast, behind-the-scenes facts, release date, and much more.

Ramayana Part 1 Overview: Release Date, Budget & Genre

Plot & Storyline

Ramayana Part 1 will closely follow the foundational kandas (chapters) of the authentic Valmiki Ramayana, along with including several parts of other versions like Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas. However, the makers have also taken the liberty to add their own flavor and artistic takes to the original Ramayana to make it more appealing to modern audiences. With the vision of delivering peak cinematic visual spectacle, director Nitesh Tiwari has also been careful in his direction to keep the epic’s original emotional depth intact.

Lord Ram’s early life, marriage with Goddess Sita, unfortunate exile into Vanvas (forest) planned by Kaikeyi, and then the abduction of Sita by Ravana (demon king)—all these events are expected to be seen in Part 1 of the Ramayana movie. Ramayana Part 1 is expected to end on a cliffhanger, which will lead to a massive clash between Ram and Ravana in Lanka. Soon after that, Ramayana: Part 2 is also expected to be released on Diwali 2027.

Ramayana Part 1 Movie Review & Trailer Reaction

While a detailed review of Ramayana Part 1 and its rating will be released as soon as the movie is released in theaters, social media is already divided over the available footage (trailer and teaser) of the movie. Until the full Ramayana film drops, here’s our detailed Ramayana trailer review that covers the movie’s positive and negative aspects, which can be noticed from its trailer and past teasers & glimpses.

Times Yug Rating: Will be updated after release

IMDb Rating: Will be updated after release

Rotten Tomatoes Score: Will be updated after release

Where to watch Ramayana Part 1 online: OTT & Streaming Release

The Ramayana movie is not available on any OTT platform right now. First, the Ramayana movie is going to be released directly in theaters on Diwali 2026 to recover its massive production and marketing budget; the OTT deal for its streaming rights is also a big part of its success strategy.

Other than the 3D and IMAX theatrical experience, the movie will also become available to stream on one of the major streaming platforms, so you can watch it online. There is a massive bidding war going on for the OTT rights of Ramayana Part 1. According to rumors, Netflix might be the streaming service to bag Ramayana Part 1 OTT rights for the record-breaking price, but an OTT release is not expected to happen before early 2027.

Star Cast & Roles

The Ramayana franchise is expected to unite all regional audiences under one pan-India banner. To achieve that, star casting from Bollywood as well as the South Indian film industry was chosen by the makers to lead this project. Many actors/actresses charged massive amounts of money to be a part of this giant movie project, with Ranbir Kapoor being the highest-paid actor in the Ramayana movie. So here’s the full list of Ramayana movie cast, their movie roles, and their reported fees for Ramayana Part 1 alone.

More cast members

Crew and Production

Along with local talent from the Indian film industry, the makers have also focused on hiring international talent to compete with international movie giants in terms of stunning cinematography and world-class VFX.

Ramayana Part 1 Soundtracks: All Songs & Music Guide

Music is a major focus of this movie project, due to which they hired legendary music composers like Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman. From original scores to catchy cultural songs, there is a lot to be revealed as the movie’s release date comes closer.

Ramayana Part 1 Official Trailer & Teaser

On July 15, 2026, the Ramayana movie received clearance for 2 separate trailer cuts from CBFC with a ‘U’ (Universal) certificate:

1. Theatrical Trailer: Ramayana 3D with a runtime of 4 minutes
2. Trailer: Ramayana 3D with a runtime of 4 minutes 15 seconds

Ramayana promotional material (posters, glimpses, teaser & trailer) was released over the months as follows:

• Title Glimpse (July 3, 2025): Announced with an introductory video, the first glimpse of this ancient epic movie showed the title logo and the background score of A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer.
• Rama First Look Teaser Release (April 2, 2026): This first teaser showcased the cinematic universe of Ramayana to the audience for the first time, and focused on Ranbir Kapoor’s role as Lord Ram in the movie. This was a major moment as the audience realized the massive scale of this movie. Rama’s first look teaser was released on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti

• Ramayana official trailer launch (July 30, 2026): After scrapping the original release time, the much hyped trailer of Ramayana was released at 4:15 AM IST (Indian Standard Time) on July 30, 2026. This time for trailer release was important, as it was the Brahma Muhurat.

Related article: Ramayana trailer review: Why Ranbir Kapoor & Yash’s ₹4,000 Crore Epic is Disappointing

First 24-hour views: Within the first 24 hours, the Ramayana trailer gained more than 45 million views across all languages on YouTube, whereas its Hindi version alone reached the massive number of 36.4 million views. With that, this movie trailer became part of the top 20 most viewed Indian film trailers in the first 24 hours, with it holding the 19th rank.

First 48-hour Digital Reach: The trailer reached more than 350 million views across social media platforms within the first 48 hours.

Ramayana Trailer’s 800 million views Milestone (4 days): Across all social media, the Ramayana trailer crossed a massive number of 800 million views worldwide just within the 4 days of its release, which puts this movie in the same league as Hollywood giants like Avengers: Doomsday (936 million views) and Spider-Man: Brand New Day (1.1 billion views).

Theatrical Run

Ramayana: Part 1 is set to be released on Diwali 2026 with the biggest release possible for an Indian movie in Indian theaters as well as within the international movie markets. Makers want it to compete with Hollywood blockbusters in international markets. With an estimated budget of Rs. 4,000 crores ($500 million) and a marketing budget of ₹375 crore ($40 million), with backing of giants like Sony Pictures, the markets are betting it all for a big return on investment, making it the biggest theatrical run attempted by any Indian movie.

Use of AI Lip-Sync Technology in Ramayana Movie

At WAVES Summit 2025, DNEG’s CEO and Ramayana’s producer, Namit Malhotra, said that he wants to localize the Ramayana story for people of different countries. Basically, what he meant by that was that if a person is watching Ramayana in the USA, then he will watch an English version of the movie, which will be lip-synced in English, not just dubbed, for a greater connection with its story and characters. Namit further said that international audiences should be able to enjoy the movie without dubbing and subtitles, with real-time AI technology to alter characters’ lip movements to match foreign languages like English, Japanese, and Spanish.

Many Indians had very mixed reactions regarding this lip-synced news, since a part of the audience wants the world to experience Ramayana in its original Hindi version or at least a dubbed English version with important Sanskrit words used in it so that international moviegoers can learn about ancient Hindu culture through this movie.

What is the budget of Ramayana Part 1 & Ramayana Part 2?

Considering the cutting-edge technology, visual spectacle, massive budget, and scale, Ramayana Part 1 is all set to dominate the box office collections. Initial trade reports said that the budget of the first part was around Rs. 835 crores ($100 million), but producer Namit Malhotra denied these claims, further explaining that the budget has already surpassed these numbers to compete with the Hollywood giants, bringing the total budget of both parts of the series to ₹4,000 crore ($500 million).

The production costs of these two movie parts are shared, as both parts were shot back-to-back. For those who are curious about the Ramayana Part 1 budget in rupees, it is estimated at ₹2,000 crore ($250 million). That is a budget surpassing recently released big-budget Hollywood movies like Jurassic World Rebirth ($180 million) and Superman ($225 million).

Marketing Budget of Ramayana Part 1: With an aggressive marketing strategy in place, the makers have decided to go with the massive marketing budget of around ₹375 crore ($40 million). This has never been the case for an Indian movie, where the massive marketing budget surpasses most Indian movies’ production costs.

Hit/Flop Verdict

With that being said, the final investment in Ramayana’s first part comes to at least ₹2,375 crore (₹2,000 crore for production and ₹375 crore for marketing). The makers are not relying on theater ticket sales alone to cover the massive cost. As we all know, the highest grossing indian fim of all time is Dangal at around Rs. 2000 crore; even achieving that success won’t recover the makers’ investment. The makers are of the mind that along with box office collections, the movie can earn a massive amount of money by selling its music rights at high cost and signing a big OTT deal for its streaming rights.

However, Ramayana: Part 1 will still need to reach the gross worldwide box office collection of at least Rs. 3000 crore to Rs. 3500 crore to be declared a clean “hit” by the trade experts. If Ramayana does not connect with international audiences and falls below the Rs. 2500 crore worldwide collection, it will risk becoming a financial disaster.

Ramayana Part 1 Pre-Release Business: Music, OTT & Satellite Rights

There is a bidding war going on between big OTT giants to earn the streaming rights of the Ramayana movie. The OTT deal for the Ramayana movie is expected to break all previous records of Indian cinema. Although nothing has been confirmed yet, Netflix is rumored to be the leading company that wants to bag its streaming rights. We will update you as soon as the news regarding Ramayana’s OTT deal becomes public or is reported by industry insiders. It is also estimated that the OTT deal for both parts of the Ramayana movie could even exceed ₹500 crore. If that happens, it would break previous held records of KGF: Chapter 2 and RRR.

T-Series’ Historic ₹75 Crore Music Rights Deal with Ramayana

In late July 2026, T-Series (headed by Bhushan Kumar) bagged the music rights of both Ramayana: Part 1 and Ramayana: Part 2 across all languages with the advance payment of ₹75 crore, making it the biggest music rights deal of Indian cinema for any movie franchise.

This kind of investment was expected when we heard that the music composers of the Ramayana were Academy Award-winning composers Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman, who worked on this movie’s music together. The entire music album, background score, and digital audio streams were all part of this ₹75 crore advance paid by T-Series.

Satellite Rights of Ramayana: Currently under negotiations, the TV broadcasting rights for Ramayana’s Hindi and South Indian languages dubbing versions are expected to earn around ₹150 to ₹200 crore for the movie, marking a massive satellite deal.

Box Office Collection & Records

With its massive hype, scale, and positive reactions so far, it can be predicted that the Ramayana movie is all set to have a historic opening at the box office. Its detailed and daily box office collection numbers and records will be reported here as soon as the movie is released.

Ramayana Part 1 Sequels & Franchise Future

The ancient epic has been divided into two parts. While its first part is all set to be released on Diwali 2026, the makers have planned to release Ramayana Part 2 on Diwali 2027.

Awards

This movie is expected to win many awards and much-deserved recognition. All will be updated here as soon as it happens.

Controversies & Behind-the-Scenes Facts

• Movie set behind-the-scenes leaks: In the early days of the Ramayana shoot, several pictures were leaked from the Mumbai set. The internet was not happy with what it saw; several social media users judged the movie based on the leaked images and criticized it for its approach to the subject of the Ramayana and the characters’ costumes.
• Backlash for casting choice: The audience has very mixed opinions about the casting of Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram and Sai Pallavi as Goddess Sita. This is due to the fact that both Ranbir and Sai Pallavi have done and said certain things that have offended the Hindu community in the past. For example: Ranbir once proudly called himself a “big beef guy,” explaining how his favorite food is beef. Since the cow is a sacred animal among all Hindus, Ranbir was heavily criticized by Hindus for eating beef.
• Glorifying Ravana: The makers and actor Yash have already hinted on social media that the character of Ravana will be shown as an anti-hero villain and a complex and misunderstood personality. A section of the audience sees this as an attempt to humanize Ravana and whitewash his crimes.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)