Not ₹1,600cr, 'Ramayana' budget is a jaw-dropping ₹4,000cr!
What's the story
The upcoming film Ramayana, produced by Namit Malhotra, is set to be the most expensive Indian movie ever made. The two-part epic has a combined budget of around ₹4,000 crore (around $500 million) and features a star-studded cast including Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Sai Pallavi, and Sunny Deol. In a recent interview with Prakhar Gupta, Malhotra revealed the budget and spoke about the ambitious scale of Ramayana.
Self-funded project
'People thought I was crazy...'
Malhotra, who is also the CEO of Prime Focus and has worked on Hollywood blockbusters like Inception, Interstellar, and Dune, revealed that they are self-funding Ramayana. He said people thought he was crazy when they started working on it six to seven years ago because no Indian film had come close to such a budget. "To put it simply, it'll be about $500 million by the time we're done on both films put together... which is over ₹4,000 crore."
Twitter Post
Listen to Malhotra here
The producer of #Ramayana, Namit Malhotra, confirms that the budget of both parts will be around ₹4000 CR! 😲 #SaiPallavi#RanbirKapoor#Yashpic.twitter.com/KuzFjxIUVk
— George 🍿🎥 (@georgeviews) July 15, 2025
Global respect
Encounter with 'Jurassic Park' inspired Malhotra's vision for Ramayana
Malhotra's vision for Ramayana was inspired by his childhood encounter with Jurassic Park, which opened his imagination to building believable fictional worlds. He expressed frustration over the lack of global respect for Indian cinema, saying, "All the films they saw us as were victims and we were poor and always less fortunate and treated poorly by the world." "And I was like, no, that's not who we are. That's not the country I come from."
Cultural impact
'Still think it's cheaper than some biggest Hollywood films...'
Malhotra hopes to present India's spiritual and cultural heritage through Ramayana, which he calls "the greatest epic of all time." He said, "We are making the largest film in the world for the greatest story, the greatest epic that the world should see. And it's cheaper than it costs to make some of the biggest Hollywood films." Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana Part 1 will be released on Diwali next year. It features music by Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman.