Mumbai: Ramayana, a two-part mythological epic starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash, is emerging as a test of whether Indian film IP can be turned into a global entertainment business beyond the diaspora.

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra, the 4,000-crore project is being mounted at a scale more commonly associated with Hollywood event films. Sony Pictures is handling worldwide distribution, giving the film access to a global distribution network from the outset.

The film is targeting audiences across North America, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Malhotra believes it could eventually reach more than 50,000 screens worldwide, in addition to around 9,000 screens in India.

But the bigger commercial bet is whether an Indian story can be sold to audiences who have no prior cultural connection to the epic, rather than primarily to the Indian diaspora.

Indian films have crossed borders before. Dangal, Baahubali, RRR, Pathaan and Kalki 2898 AD have found audiences outside India, with some performing strongly at the global box office. Ramayana, however, is being positioned differently: the non-diaspora audience is intended to be part of its core market rather than an extension of the overseas Indian audience.

The strategy comes as India’s government is encouraging creators to build audiences beyond the domestic market. At the WAVES summit last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indian content creators to embrace the vision of “Create in India, Create for the World”, describing India’s storytelling tradition as a cultural asset built over thousands of years.

For Ramayana, that ambition creates a challenge beyond distribution: audience education. The film is being developed for viewers who may have little familiarity with the characters, mythology and cultural context of the epic.

Malhotra sees the project as fundamentally different from simply taking an Indian film overseas. “There has never been a story from India for the world,” he said. “We are genuinely approaching it as an Indian film, made by Indian people, acted by Indian actors, but being presented on a global stage.”

The team spent 18 months to two years travelling, meeting studios and explaining the project before Sony came on board, Malhotra said. “When something has not happened for 100 years, the first question people ask is why me? why now? why this project?” he said.

The film is being developed in multiple Indian languages, while an English version is also being worked on. Malhotra said the objective is to give international audiences an experience that feels as seamless as watching films from their own markets.

The release strategy reflects that ambition. Malhotra believes Ramayana could eventually reach more than 50,000 screens worldwide, compared with roughly 8,000-12,000 screens for some of the largest previous Indian releases. He cautioned, however, against directly comparing the film with established global franchises such as Avatar, Spider-Man or Avengers.

The marketing spend could also be on an unprecedented scale. Malhotra said he could not say whether it would be 200 crore or 1,000 crore, but that the project was operating in the “orbit of money” required to market a film worldwide in the manner Hollywood markets its biggest event releases.

“We are one amongst 30 films of the year of the world that will get this kind of distribution,” he said.

Industry executives see the project as part of a broader expansion in the ambitions of Indian cinema.

PVR INOX managing director Ajay Bijli said the film represents an opportunity to take a story with universal appeal to audiences around the world. “If there is a story that can resonate with global audiences, then why not?” Bijli said. “Ramayana is a universal story, and Namit was very keen that the whole world should know about this powerful Indian mythological story.”

Former Zee Studios CEO and film producer Shariq Patel said an Indian distributor would not have been able to secure the same breadth of global distribution.

“It’s a bold, audacious and important move. Reaching a global audience beyond the diaspora required a partnership like this,” Patel said. He said Prime Focus’s decades-long relationships with US studios and distributors, built through its VFX business, were significant in making such a partnership possible.

Nitin Menon, managing partner at NV Capital, sees the project as part of a broader push to turn Indian mythology into globally recognisable intellectual property.

“Ramayana and Mahabharata are our Marvel and DC,” he said, describing the ambition as an expression of India’s growing confidence in its storytelling and soft power.

The two-part structure is also central to the commercial strategy. Malhotra said the first film is intended to establish the characters and world, creating a foundation for the second instalment.

“Everybody plays that one and two game because they all know that if one gets established, then the two becomes a multi-bagger,” he said.

For India’s film industry, which produces around 1,800-2,000 films a year across Bollywood and multiple regional industries, the opportunity extends beyond a single blockbuster.

India has historically had little economic incentive to build global audiences because its large domestic market has been sufficient to sustain a vast film ecosystem. Its films have nevertheless begun finding audiences well beyond the diaspora, creating a potential path for Indian intellectual property to become a larger export.

The test for Ramayana, therefore, is not whether an Indian film can travel overseas. Dangal, Baahubali and RRR have already shown that it can. The bigger question is whether Indian IP can be packaged, distributed and marketed as a global event from day one, with audiences beyond the diaspora forming part of its core market.