Ramayana budget exceeds Avatar; Ranbir Kapoor, Yash film's ₹4000 cr cost is more than RRR, Baahubali, Adipurush combined

Billed as India's answer to the Lord of the Rings, Ramayana has a budget of ₹4000 crore ($500 million), higher than even Avatar and Avengers, its producer says.

For years, Titanic had been the most expensive film in the world. It had a budget of just over $200 million. Around that time, the most expensive Indian films had budgets not exceeding $10 million ( ₹36-40 crore at the exchange rate of the time). The chasm was wide. With the growth of Indian cinema, that gap has reduced. Today, the most expensive Indian film - Kalki 2898 AD - has a reported budget of over $70 million ( ₹600 crore), which is not far off from the $447 million cost of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the world's most expensive film.

The Ramayana first glimpse was officially unveiled on July 3.

But if we go by one filmmaker's word, the hierarchy is set to change. Nitesh Tiwary-directed Ramayana is being mounted on a scale so massive that even Avatar and Avengers will feel small in comparison. This film has a reported budget of ₹4000 crore, several times more than the budget of anything ever produced in India, and even most of Hollywood.

India's most expensive film

Namit Malhotra's Ramayana, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, is easily the most ambitious Indian film ever made. Recent reports had claimed that the two-part film is being mounted on a budget of ₹1600 crore ($100 million for each part). But now, the film's producer has revealed that the real number is much higher, at ₹4000 crore. Speaking on The Prakhar Gupta Xperience podcast, Namit said, "When we set out to make it, 6-7 years ago, when we really got serious about mounting it, everybody called me a lunatic, because no Indian film comes close to it budgetwise. To put it simply, it will be about $500 million by the time we are done with both the films - Part 1 and Part 2, which is over ₹4000 crore."

The filmmaker added, "We are making the largest film in the world for the greatest story the world should see. I still think it is cheaper than some of the big Hollywood films. I think we are making a bigger film at a lower cost. That Indian in me still believes we are not being irresponsible with money."

How Ramayana budget compares to the biggest films ever

The ₹4000 crore budget dwarves anything ever made in India. Even considering that Ramayana is two films in one, the budget is much higher than the combined production costs of Adipurush ( ₹550 crore), RRR ( ₹500 crore), and Kalki 2898 AD ( ₹600 crore). But these were all single films. If a comparison is to be done with back-to-back productions, Baahubali is the best bet. However, the two films from SS Rajamouli cost 'just' ₹430 crore, one-ninth of what Ramayana will.

Even many Hollywood films pale in comparison. Avatar had a budget of $237 million, while Avengers movies cost just over $300 million. Only if we take back-to-back productions does Ramayana not become the world's biggest films. The third and fourth Avengers films - Infinity War and Endgame - cost over $700 million together, while the Hobbit trilogy cost $623 million. These are the only projects that have been more expensive than the $500-million reported cost of Ramayana.

All about Ramayana

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana is intended to be a two-part film with Part 1 releasing on Diwali 2026 and Part 2 in 2027. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman, and Sunny Deol as Hanuman. The score for the film sees AR Rahman collaborate with the legendary Hans Zimmer, who is making his Bollywood debut.