Ranbir Kapoor’s mythological epic Ramayana, the trailer of which was unveiled a couple of days ago to a massive response, has been creating a lot of anticipation among moviegoers and film critics all over the country because of the star-studded casting, huge canvas and solid technical values. Bollywood director Nitesh Tiwari is crafting this magnum opus with collaborative production between Namit Malhotra’s DNEG, Prime Focus Studios, and Yash’s Monster Mind Creations. The film is being made in two parts – a new found strategy by filmmakers to recoup their investment.
Interestingly, Ramayana’ franchise is mounted on a staggering production budget of Rs 1600 crore. The first installment alone accounts for Rs 900 crore, while Rs 700 crore has been set aside for the sequel. This whopping budget bills ‘Ramayana’ as the most expensive series in the history of Indian cinema. As per Bollywood sources, the reason for the reduction in budget for part two is a result of a large investment in asset and world creation for part one, leaving just the action sequences for the second installment. The characters built and designed alongside the set pieces will continue to be a part of the second installment.
As the epic grandeur boasts an impressive ensemble cast with Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Yash as Ravana, Sunny Deol as Hanuman and Sai Pallavi as Sita, the remunerations for both these parts will form a major chunk of the budget. Legendary composers Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman have been enlisted to create the music and background score for this film. So, the technical costs will be quite high as far as the budget is concerned.
If these reports are true, Ramayana will easily be the costliest franchise till date. Other upcoming biggies like Mahesh Babu’s SSMB29 under Rajamouli’s direction is touted to be budgeted at 1000 Crores. Even Allu Arjun’s next outing with director Atlee is also positioned as one of the expensive films in the history of Indian cinema.
Meanwhile, the production team of Ramayana is negotiating with a top Hollywood studio to secure global distribution rights for key international markets.
