Ramayana Part One Opens as Reviews Split and Totals Build

Ramayana Part One opened in cinemas on November 5, bringing Nitesh Tiwari’s two-part adaptation of the Hindu epic to audiences with Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana. Early reviews and audience reactions were divided, while opening-day box-office figures remained provisional as screenings continued. At 4 p.m., an estimate attributed to Sacnilk put the film’s India collection at Rs 32.81 crore. Hindi accounted for Rs 24.17 crore, Kannada Rs 3.91 crore, Telugu Rs 2.98 crore and Tamil Rs 1.11 crore, according to the report. Evening and night shows were still pending, so the figure was not a final opening-day total. Advance sales and opening-day forecasts reported before release were also estimates, not confirmed earnings. One pre-release report put domestic advance bookings at Rs 96.75 crore, or about Rs 77.44 crore excluding block bookings, and said 25.73 lakh tickets had been sold across 83,172 planned screenings. Another report forecast an opening between Rs 100 crore and Rs 120 crore. Those figures cover advance sales or projections and should not be confused with the in-day estimate. Reviews and social-media responses offered sharply different...