Ramayana: Rise of a Legend is already doing opening-day business five days before its worldwide release on Thursday, November 5. Advance bookings for the Ranbir Kapoor and Yash epic are estimated at Rs 19.61 crore gross for day one in India, with Rs 16.31 crore excluding blocked seats.
For the extended five-day opening weekend, trade estimates put total advance collections at Rs 40 crore gross, or Rs 22.11 crore without blocked seats. The early numbers suggest the film is on track to cross the Rs 20 crore mark for its opening day in India.
Where the demand is concentrated
Hindi is doing most of the heavy lifting. It accounts for Rs 16.28 crore of opening-day pre-sales, or 83% of the domestic total. Kannada follows at Rs 2.56 crore.
- NCR: Rs 3.25 crore in day-one advance bookings, the leading city market.
- Karnataka: Rs 3.89 crore, the top state at around 20% of gross collections.
- Maharashtra: Rs 3.85 crore, close behind Karnataka.
- Delhi: Rs 3.25 crore, matching the NCR total.
Karnataka’s lead is notable: it sits alongside the Kannada version’s Rs 2.56 crore pre-sale. Maharashtra is effectively tied, making it a second important centre for the Hindi release.
Certification and runtime
The Central Board of Film Certification has cleared the Hindi version with a U certificate. Its runtime is 195 minutes, or 3 hours and 15 minutes. That length matters commercially: a screen can run fewer shows a day, so the film needs higher occupancy and average ticket price per show to convert pre-sales into a strong weekend.
The English dub debate
The English-dubbed version has drawn criticism over reports that AI was used to make characters speak English without the film being reshot in different languages. So far, that conversation has not shown up in the booking data. Domestic pre-sales are climbing, and overseas markets are also participating.
Overseas pre-sales
As of October 30, combined overseas advance bookings across all show dates stood at an estimated USD 3.45 million. North America leads with USD 2.58 million, followed by the United Kingdom and Ireland at USD 351,200, and Australia and New Zealand at USD 313,000.
That North America skew suggests the diaspora audience in the US and Canada is the largest overseas early buyer, which usually supports premium-format and evening shows.
What to watch next
For distribution and marketing teams, the real test is conversion: whether the advance becomes occupied seats and walk-ins. The key indicators are opening-day occupancy, Hindi-belt footfall, and North American holds across the five-day window.
Source: The Times of India
