Ramayana Part One has closed its advance bookings at approximately 143.50 crore rupees worldwide, making it the second-biggest advance ever for a Bollywood film and setting up one of the largest openings in the history of Hindi cinema. The film, starring Ranbir Kapoor as Rama and Yash as Ravana, opened in theatres worldwide on Thursday, November 5, after a pre-release campaign that turned advance ticket sales into a news story in their own right.
The final advance figures, reported by Pinkvilla, show a remarkably even split between India and overseas markets. Domestic advances contributed approximately 71 crore rupees gross, while international markets brought in approximately 72.50 crore rupees, or 7.625 million dollars.
That balance is unusual for a Hindi film, where domestic sales normally dominate, and it reflects the scale of the overseas campaign for a film that has been positioned from the start as a global mythological epic rather than a purely Indian release.
Within India, the Hindi version led the domestic charge with 57.50 crore rupees gross in pre-sales, while the southern dubbed versions together added 13.50 crore rupees. The Hindi opening day advance alone stood at approximately 23.50 crore rupees nett, a notable day-one number for a film arriving in a pre-Diwali release window, traditionally a slow period for the Hindi box office as audiences focus on festive preparations.
Trade estimates quoted in the coverage point to an opening of around 55 to 60 crore rupees nett in Hindi, plus about 15 crore rupees nett from the dubbed versions, giving a total India opening-day nett estimate of 70 to 75 crore rupees, which could touch 80 crore rupees depending on walk-in audiences and word of mouth.
Overseas, the strongest response came from the United States, where weekend pre-sales reached 4.40 million dollars. The United Kingdom added 700,000 dollars, Canada 750,000 dollars, Australia and New Zealand 650,000 dollars, while the Middle East and the rest of Europe each contributed 425,000 dollars. Another 275,000 dollars came from rest-of-world markets, taking the overseas advance total to 7.625 million dollars.
The United States performance is particularly significant: the film is on course for an overseas opening weekend above 20 million dollars, according to trade tracking, though the target was probably higher, closer to 25 to 30 million dollars, given the film's scale and the marketing spend behind it.
The ranking matters for context. The 143.50 crore rupee worldwide advance places Ramayana Part One second among Bollywood films for advance sales, behind only Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which had an advance of over 250 crore rupees for its opening weekend. That comparison also shows how far the market has moved: a decade ago, an advance of this size would have been unthinkable for any Hindi film, let alone one released just before Diwali.
The film has also already surpassed the worldwide advance of Shah Rukh Khan's blockbusters Pathaan and Jawan, whose global box office openings were around 120 crore rupees, according to earlier predictions quoted by The Indian Express.
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana Part One is a mythological epic mounted as the first chapter of a two-part cinematic event. It is produced by Namit Malhotra for Prime Focus Studios in association with DNEG and Yash's Monster Mind Creations. Ranbir Kapoor stars as Rama, Yash plays Ravana, and Sai Pallavi essays Sita.
The film has been released worldwide in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, a five-language strategy designed to maximise its reach across India and in diaspora markets where dubbed versions can draw audiences who might not watch a Hindi-only release.
The pre-release numbers need to be read with care, and Pinkvilla itself issued an important caution. There may be some higher advance numbers circulating online, the trade outlet warned, but those are not collections.
Those numbers are basically scraped data from ticket booking sites, which include blocked seats, and the gross amounts they arrive at use ticket prices at face value, which is not how the box office is reported, as most of these tickets are purchased on passes, which lowers the average ticket price.
The box office figures, opening-day forecasts and lifetime projections mentioned in the coverage are subjective trade estimates compiled from commercial parameters, advance trends and market sentiment, not finalised collections or certified accounting statements.
That distinction is often lost in social media celebrations of record numbers, but it is essential for understanding what an advance figure actually means: it measures tickets sold before release, not money finally collected, and it can be revised as blocked seats are released or as actual footfalls differ from bookings.
Earlier predictions had been even more optimistic. The Indian Express, a day before release, reported that the film was projected to open at the worldwide box office on November 5 at 160 crore rupees, and that its advance booking worldwide had already surpassed the 100 crore rupee mark for its extended opening weekend alone.
At that stage, overseas advances were reported at more than 40 crore rupees, with the total global advance adding up to around 140 crore rupees — a figure that the final 143.50 crore rupee total has now confirmed and slightly exceeded.
The same report noted that the film was next to only Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge in terms of United States ticket sales, and that it was projected to open in the United States between 13 million dollars and 14 million dollars, figures that sit above the final weekend pre-sale total and reflect the difference between a full opening weekend and advance bookings alone.
Early tracking after release points in the same direction. Hollywood Reporter India, citing trade tracker Sacnilk, reported a day-one gross in India of 50.08 crore rupees, with 14.05 lakh tickets sold across 26,615 shows. The Hindi version led with 37.52 crore rupees, while regional versions added strong support.
Early industry estimates suggested the film was on track to deliver an opening-day Hindi nett collection of around 60 crore rupees, which could go higher depending on walk-ins, and a total all-language India nett estimate of 70 to 75 crore rupees.
Internationally, the film was projected to gross over 150 crore rupees worldwide on day one, with pre-sales having crossed the 111 crore rupee mark a day prior to release in that tracker's count — a reminder that different trackers use different methods and that early estimates should be treated as provisional.
The timing of the release adds another layer of interest. Opening before Diwali is traditionally a gamble for Hindi films, because the days immediately before the festival see lower cinema attendance as families prepare for celebrations. Trade expectations therefore anticipate a seesaw run over the next five days, with collections falling one day and rising the next as the festival passes and audiences return to theatres.
If Ramayana Part One can hold its audience through that pattern, its lifetime total could far exceed its opening weekend, as has happened with other festival releases that started modestly and grew through word of mouth.
For the Indian film industry, the advance numbers are also a statement about ambition. A two-part adaptation of the Ramayana, mounted at this scale, with visual effects work from DNEG and a cast spanning Hindi and Kannada cinema, represents a bet that Indian mythological stories can compete globally on production values as well as on cultural familiarity.
Whether that bet pays off will depend not on advance sales alone, but on reviews, audience response and repeat viewings over the coming weeks. What the advance figures do prove, beyond doubt, is that the audience turned up before a single review was published — and in numbers that only one Bollywood film has ever exceeded.
(Reporting based on Pinkvilla and Box Office Worldwide.)