Before the release of Ramayana, The makers hosted a premiere at the Academy Theater in Los Angeles, where producer Namit Malhotra spoke about his journey.
As reported by Indian Express, He said, “I wanted to host this evening at the Academy Theater because it’s my Oscars moment. I’m going to take a moment to speak without ringing the bell. My company, DNEG, and my team have won a total of eight Academy Awards in the last 11 years for visual effects, collaborating with some of the greatest filmmakers of our time, including Novilain, Novilain, Kristen Villain.”
Recalling his early days, when he worked on a start-up from a garage at the age of 19, Namit added, “For a 19-year-old garage start-up kid with a third-generation film family background, working with an Apple computer, with three of his teachers, who were all 21, it’s a dream come true.
He also shed light on the setbacks he endured in 2008, adding, “In my quest to build a global company and connect East and West, I set foot in LA in 2007 and haven’t looked back since. An expat who lost 90% of his wealth during the 2008 financial crisis, as I’m sure I can remind you of the biggest production in the world… I don’t even know you. Can say standing here today and saying that we have been able to bring together some of the best talent from India, as you all have seen, and collaborate with some of the best Western talent.
Malhotra also credits her father, filmmaker Naresh Malhotra, for encouraging her to get into filmmaking. “I got into post-production and visual effects for making movies at some point, and that’s what I’m doing today,” he said.
The Ramayana Reportedly mounted on a whopping budget of Rs 4,000 crore.
Speaking to Prakhar Gupta, producer Namit Malhotra revealed, “When we started making it six or seven years ago, people thought I was crazy because no other Indian film comes close to this scale. Put simply, the two parts combined will have a budget of around $500 million, which is over Rs 4,000 crore.”
He added, “We’re making the world’s biggest film for the greatest epic in the world that deserves to be seen globally. Still, I believe we’re doing it more efficiently than some of the biggest Hollywood films. We’re not being irresponsible; we’re being ambitious, but grounded.”
The film will be released in two parts. The first installment is slated to hit theaters worldwide before Diwali 2026, while the second installment is set to release during Diwali 2027.
Apart from Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash, the film also stars Sunny Deol and Ravi Dubey in lead roles.