Producer Namit Malhotra’s vision for the two-part epic is to “shake the world,” with a budget that may reportedly cross the $500 million mark, making it a new benchmark for Indian cinema.
August 4, 2025: The two-part epic Ramayana by filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari would be the biggest and most costly movie ever made in India, with a budget of more than ₹4,000 crore ($500 million). Trade expert Komal Nahata says that this unparalleled scale, which is based on a mission to “shake the world,” shows how much producer Namit Malhotra cares.
On a podcast, Nahata talked about a talk he had with Malhotra, who is also a co-producer of the movie. Malhotra, the CEO of Prime Focus, a global VFX business with a Hollywood division called DNEG that has won Oscars for its work on movies like Dune and Inception, said that making money is not his sole purpose. He claimed he doesn’t care if he spends “three times the budget” as long as he can show that India can make movies that are as good as the best in the world.
Ranbir Kapoor plays Rama, Sai Pallavi plays Sita, Sunny Deol plays Hanuman, and Yash plays Ravana in the movie. AR Rahman and Hans Zimmer wrote the music for the movie.
Malhotra wants to translate the Ramayana into 30 to 50 languages and employ AI-powered speech localization to make it easier for people all around the world to read. The movie doesn’t just want to be a hit; it wants to be the best Indian movie ever made. Part 1 will come out on Diwali 2026, while Part 2 will come out on Diwali 2027.