The actor in ‘Mirzapur: The Movie’; (right) ‘Ramayana: Part 1’

Look at Sheeba Chadha’s line-up and you’re bound to be impressed. While Mirzapur: The Movie is unstoppable at the box office, the second season of Bakaiti will drop online next week, followed by the year’s biggest film, Ramayana: Part 1, in November. How does she react to this string of projects?

“It’s not something I get up in the morning and think of. It’s great if it has consequences in the work going forward. But there’s no way of knowing that,” Chadha told mid-day over a Zoom call. 

While this detachment helps the actor not pressure herself about a project, she doesn’t apply this approach to Mirzapur. As someone who has been a regular since the series premièred in 2018, seeing it becoming a big-screen success feels special.

She shared, “All of us have an emotional connect with Mirzapur. You think the audience is so used to seeing you in a series. So, the only thought in my head was whether it would sit well with them as a movie. I have so much gratitude for their love because wherever I travel to, the only thing I get asked about is Mirzapur. I’m sure it will set a trend in the industry of series being adapted into films.”

Even as she is moving from the film to another biggie in Ramayana: Part 1, Chadha’s focus remains on her character’s evolution. The actor, who plays Manthara in director Nitesh Tiwari’s epic, said, “People’s expectations aren’t unnerving for me. I’ve done my job as an actor.”

That said, what the film stands for in the landscape of Indian movies isn’t lost on her. “[I came on board] due to the enormity of the project. Nitesh sir is very nice to actors and clear about what he wants.”

Manthara was Queen Kaikeyi’s lady-in-waiting. She seeded the idea of demanding Ram’s exile, in Kaikeyi’s mind

Dipika Chikhlia, who became synonymous with Sita after Ramanand Sagar’s TV hit Ramayan, says she is no longer rattled by new actors taking on the role. Reacting to Sai Pallavi playing Sita in the upcoming adaptation, Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana, she says, “If it’s Sai Pallavi, she’s a fab actress,” adding that she has no doubt the actor “will perform well”.

But asked which contemporary actor she would have liked to see as Sita, Chikhlia picks Alia Bhatt. “She’s very spontaneous, and that’s the kind of person I am,” she says, adding, “She would have looked lovely as Sita.”

Long before Ranbir Kapoor’s epic Ramayana: Part 1, there was Ramanand Sagar’s landmark 1987 TV series Ramayan. Almost 40 years on, the late filmmaker’s grandson, Shiv Sagar, is bringing a documentary that will chronicle the making of the Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia-led show.

Shiv told mid-day that the 60-minute documentary is currently in post-production. “It will show what happened behind the scenes — including anecdotes, never-before-seen footage, and retakes — during the making of my grandfather’s Ramayan. We have interviewed the cast, crew, and technicians connected to the series. We have [archival] videos of my grandfather and father. Its working title is Behind The Scenes Of The Ramayan, and we are planning to release it in the Diwali week,” he said.

Diwali is also when Ramayana: Part 1 will hit the screens. Shiv’s documentary will be launched on Tilak channel on YouTube and played at the Ramanand Sagar Museum in Karjat.

Close to the museum is the Ram temple built by Shiv’s father Prem Sagar and him at their Karjat property. He would like to invite Kapoor and the Ramayana: Part 1 team to the temple. “My sister Shabnam Gupta has designed Ranbir and Alia’s [Bhatt] new home in Bandra. I’d love to invite Ranbir and the Ramayana team to our Ram temple.”

An ambitious epic like Ramayana: Part 1 deserves maestros, and filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari gave us that as he brought five-time Grammy Award winner Hans Zimmer and two-time Oscar winner A R Rahman together. Now, as the Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash-starrer ramps up its promotions, the makers know just the way to get global attention. mid-day has learnt that Zimmer and Rahman will host a musical evening, dedicated to Ramayana: Part 1, in London on October 20.

A source close to the development revealed, “The prestigious Royal Albert Hall is likely to be the venue for the event. The Zimmer-Rahman collaboration forms a key part of the film’s global positioning, and the duo will take the audience into the movie’s sonic world. The lead actors, Nitesh, and producer Namit Malhotra are expected to attend the event.”

Before we see the maestros in action, we will witness their work on screen. Word is that the movie’s first song will be released this month.

The source added, “The track depicts Lord Ram and Sita’s wedding. It is currently being given finishing touches. The launch will mark a major asset drop in the promotional campaign, which began with the Rama teaser that was unveiled in April, followed by the trailer in July.”

The second trailer is expected to be launched around October 23.

Don’t be surprised if you see another avatar of Ranbir Kapoor minutes before ‘Ramayana: Part 1’ plays out on the big screen. Word is that the teaser of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Love & War’ — starring Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Vicky Kaushal — will be attached to filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari’s epic.

Initially, the plan was to unveil the romantic drama’s teaser on September 28, coinciding with Kapoor’s birthday. However, that plan has apparently been scrapped, with a different asset drop lined up for the actor’s birthday.

A source close to the development told mid-day, “The September 28 plan is not achievable as the final schedule of ‘Love & War’ got over only in the first week of September. Now, Bhansali sir wants to give the teaser a theatrical launch instead, and ‘Ramayana: Part 1’ provides the perfect platform. It’s one of the biggest films of Indian cinema, and with Ranbir being the lead in both projects, the teaser of ‘Love & War’ can create the impact the makers are looking for.”

While the teaser will be out in November, the trailer is expected to drop in late December before its January 2027 release.

With ‘Toxic: A Fairy Tale For Grown-ups’ in theatres now, Yash is giving undivided attention to his next ambitious release, ‘Ramayana: Part 1’. While the Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash-starrer has generated enough buzz, we’ve heard that the two male leads plan to take their epic to fans across India through special interactions.

According to an industry insider, Kapoor — who plays Lord Ram — will spearhead a fan meet-up in Delhi on October 31, while the South star will host the Bengaluru leg on November 1.

“The idea is to create a pan-India connect. Ranbir and Yash will lead the interactions in their respective cities,” said a source.

The team is also said to be planning a summit in Hyderabad, potentially a day before the Nitesh Tiwari-directed venture’s India release on November 8. Details of the event are still being worked out.

The source added, “The exact format has yet to be finalized, but over 4000 people are expected to attend. The makers want to ensure the film travels to the South belt. That said, the official première of ‘Ramayana’ will be in Mumbai.”

Batwara 1947 may have slowed down Sunny Deol’s bullish run at the box office that began with Gadar 2: The Katha Continues (2023), but he has no reason to worry. The actor has four big films in his kitty. Soon after the Partition drama’s release, Deol moved on to the shoot of Excel Entertainment’s cop thriller, Antony. He will follow it up with Ramayana: Part 2, Jaat 2, and Rajkumar Santoshi’s next.  

A source told mid-day that Deol resumed the filming of Antony, directed by Balaji Ganesh, in Film City on August 26.

“The unit is currently focusing on the high-octane action sequences of the film that sees Sunny as a cop trying to bust a crime syndicate. With action director Ravi Verma, the actor has been shooting car chase sequences,” shared the source. 

Wrapping up Antony by October, the actor will dive into the immersive world of Ramayana: Part 2. Ranbir Kapoor has begun shooting his portions for Nitesh Tiwari’s outing.

The source added, “While Sunny, as Lord Hanuman, makes a brief appearance in the first part, he will have major action and dramatic sequences in the sequel.”

Jaat 2’s producers are keen to take their movie on floors by December. The only roadblock is said to be director Gopichand Malineni’s busy date diary. “Gopi is busy with his next film. So, the producers have to decide whether they want to wait for him or rope in another director,” added the source.

By early next year, Deol will face the camera for Santoshi’s Ghatak Ghus Ke Maarega.

For Kunal K Kapoor, a four-year gap from acting was never meant to be a break from cinema. If anything, it gave him more time to reconnect with the part of filmmaking that drew him to the industry in the first place — storytelling. Now, with his Telugu debut Vishwambhara, Kannada debut Lambodhara 2.0, Nitesh Tiwari’s magnum opus Ramayana and three scripts of his own in the works, Kunal is stepping back into a busy phase of his career, but on his own terms.

He says, “The break gave me a chance to develop the stories I really wanted to tell. At my core, I am a storyteller. I’ve been writing for years and just finished three scripts. Those are films that I’d like to act in. The break happened because I haven’t got the kind of work that I was excited about, but now I see a lot of that coming around.”

This year, Kunal’s film Rang De Basanti, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, marked its 20th anniversary. Reflecting on the film’s enduring legacy, Kunal says, “We were just telling an interesting story. It was not like we believed that we were setting out to do something so important that would be remembered 20 years later.”

The actor thinks that the possibility of making a film with that kind of cultural resonance still exists. The challenge, he says, is finding the right story. “I think the possibility of telling an interesting story still exists. It’s only about finding those interesting stories together. But those are far and few in between. I meet so many people who come up to me and say, ‘Rang De Basanti jaisi picture aur banao na.’ And I’m like, sure, but you have to find the content for it, right?”

Ask him about his experience of being part of Nitesh Tiwari’s much-anticipated film Ramayana, in which he plays Lord Indra, and he replies, “I enjoyed being on that set because it felt meditative. It was quiet. I’ve never been on such a quiet set. Usually our sets are crazy. There’s so much noise and chaos. But the sets of Ramayana felt different. Everyone seemed to feel like they were part of something they genuinely cared about. That doesn’t happen often. I think it’s a combination of Nitesh sir’s energy and also the kind of film that we’re making.”

A project as culturally significant as Ramayana was always going to attract scrutiny, particularly in the age of social media. The trailer brought with it a flood of opinions, from casting choices to the appearance of its characters. Kunal, however, sees the online reaction as a consequence of how audiences consume and discuss cinema today.

“We live in a world where everyone has access to expressing their opinion. When I was starting off, we had three newspapers and those three would have a review and you probably had one show on TV that reviewed movies. You either had to be part of a television network or a newspaper network to express how you felt about something. But today, everybody can express what they feel online. We live in a world where the more aggressive you are, or the more you attack something, the more likely you are to go viral. So virality is not necessarily based on just expressing your opinion; it’s based on how aggressively you express your opinion.”

Kapoor is also venturing into south cinema with back-to-back projects in Telugu and Kannada. While he doesn’t find the filmmaking process fundamentally different, he says there is one aspect that struck him — the continuity of language throughout the filmmaking process.

He says, “The only difference that I find, and which is one of the reasons that a lot of films from the south industries feel more rooted, is that everybody is operating in one language. For instance, if I’m doing a Telugu film, that film is written in Telugu first. Everybody on that set speaks mostly in Telugu. Then you go and say your lines in Telugu. So the whole process is in one language. That doesn’t happen on the set of Hindi films.”

Actor-producer Yash has clarified the much-discussed Rs. 4,000-crore budget of Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana, saying the figure covers both parts of the film as well as their release and promotions, and is not the production cost of Ramayana (part one) alone.

Speaking on Aap Ki Adalat, Yash, who plays Ravana and is also co-producing the film with Namit Malhotra, addressed the figure first cited by the producer for the two-part epic. “That is a misconception, so let me clarify it to everyone. Rs. 4000 crore is the budget for the two-part film, including release and promotion. It is the same as Hollywood,” he said.

Explaining the “Hollywood math” behind the figure, he added, “A budget equal to the film, or sometimes more, they spend on promotion because it is global. But the revenue is global too.”

Yash said the scale is part of an attempt to take Indian cinema to a wider global audience. “Cinema is a soft power. All of us have to work really hard towards it... Both Ramayana and Toxic (also starring Yash) are attempts to position Indian cinema as global films,” the actor-producer said.

Directed by Tiwari, Ramayana stars Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana, and is set to release in November.

Six years after featuring in a music video, actor-turned-producer Jackky Bhagnani has returned to the screen with another song, Tere Rang Mein. Fronting musician B Show’s track, which was released days ahead of Independence Day, was an emotional decision.

“I am a patriot by heart. It’s been quite some time since I faced the camera. So, I thought the best way to come back is with the right cause,” said Bhagnani.

The past eight years saw him dive deep into the role of a producer at Pooja Entertainment. Staying away from acting was an intentional move. “I realized that I should produce my own films because if I do that, no one will question it. I felt that even in the films that were working, I wasn’t getting credibility. I wanted the street credibility and respect of Gen Z, they should see that this is made by me,” shared Bhagnani, who is looking for something “disruptive” to sign as an actor.

Meanwhile, his actor-wife Rakul Preet Singh has a big release in Ramayana: Part 1, which sees her as Surpanakha.

Praising her in the trailer of the Nitesh Tiwari-directed epic, Bhagnani said, “Rakul is my superstar. She has seen superstardom in the South. She has so much more to offer to the Hindi audience, and Ramayana will do that for her. Surpanakha can be a tricky character, but she has played it with elegance.”

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.

With the trailer of director Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana already generating buzz, actor Chetan Hansraj, 54, sees the project as a defining chapter in his career. The actor, who plays Raja Mali, the maternal grandfather of Ravana, says the experience has been unlike any other in his career.

Speaking about his role and working alongside actor Yash (who plays Ravana), he says, “Raja Mali is an important character that went down in history, and my scenes with Yash are pure fire. He is such a delight on screen, and these two characters complement each other wonderfully. It was huge for me.”

The actor also reveals that his association with the film expanded beyond Raja Mali. “After my part was wrapped, I was offered six motion-capture characters, including one of Ravana’s brothers and a demon,” he reveals.

At a time when a large number of audiences prefer to watch films on OTT , the actor says that Ramayana is made for a big-screen experience. “It’s for IMAX, at least the silver screen. Watching it on small screens and mobile phones kills half the effort,” he says.

After the trailer launch, social media erupted into comparisons with previous adaptations of the Hindu epic such as Adipurush (2023) and Ramanand Sagar’s TV series, debating CGI and demon creature designs.

Addressing the debate, Hansraj says, “We have the best action directors from Hollywood and Bollywood, and technicians on board, like Terry Notary... Makers today want to give the best cinematic experience, and that’s a vision we should understand. People who once see it on the right medium will forget all these comparisons, I am sure.”

The recently released trailer of director Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana has garnered massive buzz. Actor Kajal A Kitchlu, who portrays Mandodari in the upcoming film, is glad that the epic is being positioned for the global audience.

“I really believe that it’s high time we told our superhero stories to the world. We want to talk about Lord Ram, Lakshman, Hanuman ji and all the wonderful characters that we’ve grown up reading, studying and learning about. This is a great time for Indian cinema to have that sort of global appeal,” she shares, adding that the Ramayana is a great place to start.

The 41-year-old adds, “What better story than Lord Ram to do that! I feel this is just the perfect narrative to give of our country. He’s the Maryada Purushottam, and there’s no one more heroic than him. And having (actor) Ranbir Kapoor play his role is a great representation.”

Having been away from Hindi cinema for some time, Kajal is delighted to be a part of such a major project. “It is satisfying as an actor to be associated with a magnanimous project like Ramayana. The kind of scale that you get to witness when you’re on set, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m really grateful to be a part of it,” she ends.

Namit Malhotra’s Ramayana has landed in controversy days after its trailer release. Arjun Kumar, president of Shri Ramlila Mahasangh and Lav Kush Ramlila, Old Delhi, has asked the makers for an advanced screening of the film to ensure that no religious sentiments are hurt.

Questioning the portrayal of Ram in the trailer, Kumar tells us, “How can Shri Ram, who lived with dignity, be shown taking a pledge and getting angry to kill someone? Also, (actor) Ranbir Kapoor is promoting sale of land in Ayodhya in an ad, and here he is playing Shri Ram. Will Ram ever sell Ayodhya’s land?”

He also believes that things like the costumes “could be rejected by the viewers” after the release.

Kumar clarifies that they don’t want the film to flop as “if films made on a great book like Ramayana flop, a negative message goes to society”. He also insists that they are not giving any certificate to the film, but will ask for scenes to be removed if “any of these hurt the sentiments” of Hindus.

Kumar warned that if the screening isn’t arranged, Shri Ramlila Mahasangh, along with various Hindu organizations, will stage demonstrations across Delhi and other states.

We reached out to the team of Ramayana, but they refused to comment on the matter.

Ever since the first glimpse of Ramayana dropped, the film’s costumes have become a talking point. Social media has been abuzz with debates over its modern styling, with many questioning why Sita (Sai Pallavi) is seen wearing blouses, unlike traditional depictions of mythological characters. Memes comparing Kaikeyi’s look (Lara Dutta) to television serial characters have also gone viral.

Costume designers Rimple and Harpreet Narulah, known for their work in films such as Padmaavat and Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, aren’t surprised with the scrutiny.

“We knew conversations and comparisons were inevitable,” says Rimple, adding “An epic like Ramayana has lived in our collective consciousness for generations. There will always be opinions about the casting, costumes, visual effects and what people believe is right or wrong. We were prepared for that. What has kept us grounded is our honesty towards our craft.”

Addressing the biggest criticism — Sita’s blouses — Rimple says, “When I close my eyes and think of Goddess Sita, I don’t think about archaeological authenticity. I wanted my Goddess, the one sitting in my mandir, to look like the image that has lived in my consciousness. That was a deliberate choice.”

She adds that there are no surviving costume references from the Treta Yuga that can conclusively say what people wore.

“Research is the foundation of costume design, but interpretation is what makes it art. There aren’t preserved garments from that period that we can simply recreate. We’ve all grown up seeing calendar art, miniature paintings, temple imagery and Raja Ravi Varma’s interpretations. Ramayana itself has been interpreted differently across cultures and countries. This is our interpretation,” she explains.

Talking about Lara Dutta’s Kaikeyi look, Harpreet shares, “The green in her costume represents motherhood, while the deep maroon reflects the emotional strength and darkness of the decision she has to make. She is torn between her own son and Ram. Every colour was chosen with intention. Sometimes people react too quickly before understanding the thought behind it.”

He signs off saying, “This is our attempt to make an ancient epic speak visually to a new generation. There’s thought behind every thread. We want to appeal to viewers — don’t decide before you see it. Watch it, experience it and then form your opinion.”

Wherever Ram goes, Sita follows, but that certainly doesn’t apply to Sai Pallavi, who plays Sita in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana. While the film has hosted four major promotional events yet, Pallavi’s absence from the events and social media has sparked speculation, from online criticism to rumours of a fallout with the team.

Sources, however, say it is purely a scheduling issue. Pallavi is currently shooting Mani Ratnam’s next with Vijay Sethupathi in Kolkata. “Sai has a packed and demanding schedule in Kolkata. The team will move to another location immediately after this. She is focused on finishing her commitment first,” says a source.

Those close to the actor also stress that she has never treated social media as part of her publicity strategy. “She has always maintained a low-key online presence. The trailer is on her grid now. While she reposted it a bit late, that’s just how she has functioned throughout her career. She went for the Delhi event and then straight for her shoot,” says an insider, adding that Pallavi was never meant to attend the Ramayana unveiling at the San Diego Comic-Con.

Pallavi is expected to join co-stars Ranbir Kapoor and Yash, who play Ram and Ravana respectively, for the next phase of promotions. “The plan has always been for Sai to join the promotions in the next phase, which starts in September in several international locations.”

Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Part 1 found itself at the centre of two different conversations on July 24. While the epic’s first major showcase at San Diego Comic-Con was met with applause from the international audience, its India trailer launch was called off amid the ongoing student protests.

Minutes before the Comic-Con panel began with actors Ranbir Kapoor and Yash in attendance, producer Namit Malhotra announced that the trailer would no longer be released globally as scheduled. 

A source said, “The makers chose to withhold the online launch, saying it would arrive at a later date. The protests across India had prompted the makers to do a rethink.”

The presentation itself went ahead as scheduled, with the team unveiling exclusive footage of the epic to an enthusiastic response from the nearly 4800 attendees.

“This marked only the second time an Indian film has received such a prominent showcase at San Diego Comic-Con after Kalki 2898 AD,” added the source.

While rumours over the past few days suggested that Ramayana: Part 1 might arrive ahead of schedule, the makers reaffirmed at the event that it will be a Diwali 2026 release.

------------------------------

A dance performance preceding the ‘Ramayana: Part 1’ panel was widely criticized for being a mish-mash of multiple dance forms

Before the trailer of Ramayana: Part 1 drops online on July 24, portions from the preview have already made their way on social media. On July 18, the makers unveiled the trailer of the Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash-starrer to select guests at the Pratham Sankalp event in New Delhi.

Within hours of the screening, a one-minute-28-second excerpt from the trailer was circulating across social media platforms, leading the makers to launch an aggressive takedown.

Sources indicate that producer Namit Malhotra and director Nitesh Tiwari have activated their anti-piracy partners and legal teams to remove unauthorized uploads and issue copyright notices.

“The takedown process has been underway since Saturday night. It was pulled down from Reddit by the morning of July 19, but X remains more challenging,” said a source.

It is being said that the leaked footage was recorded during the Pratham Sankalp screening. The source added, “The leak appears to have originated from an attendee’s phone recording. It shows Rama’s entry sequence as well the scene where Rama agrees to honour his father’s promise to Kaikeyi.”