Ramayana Part One Sets Global Release as Diwali IMAX Battle With Godzilla Minus Zero Heats Up

MUMBAI — With one month to go, the machine behind Ramayana: Part One is shifting into release mode. The makers of Nitesh Tiwari’s two-part epic are gearing up for an extensive worldwide theatrical rollout, with paid previews expected on November 4 — two days before the film’s November 6 global release — according to a Bollywood Hungama scoop published today. And Diwali 2026 is shaping up as one of the most unusual premium-format showdowns in recent memory: Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero opens worldwide the very same day, putting one of India’s most revered mythological epics and Japan’s iconic kaiju franchise in direct competition for IMAX screens across the globe.

The paid-previews play is a statement of confidence. Studios only sell tickets to early shows when they believe word of mouth will do the marketing for them — and with a reported combined budget around $500 million for the two-part saga, per Indian trade press, the Ramayana team is betting that the first audiences out of those November 4 shows will light up social media two days before the official opening. The scoop also reports that Godzilla Minus Zero will get limited IMAX showcasing in India — a concession that tells you who the exhibitors expect to win the screen battle on the subcontinent.

Gods vs. monstersThe IMAX battle

Here’s the collision in full. Ramayana: Rise of a Legend — the official title of Part One — releases worldwide on November 6, which falls on Dhanteras, the festival marking the beginning of the Diwali period (Diwali itself lands November 8). Godzilla Minus Zero, the sequel to Yamazaki’s Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, opens in Japan on November 3 and begins its international rollout — including North America — on November 6. IMAX lists November 6 as the film’s release date. Two giant-scale spectacles, one date, and a finite number of very large screens.

The kaiju side of this fight is no pushover. Godzilla Minus One was made for roughly $10–15 million and grossed well past $110 million worldwide, then made history with the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Minus Zero continues the post-war story — set in 1949, with Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe returning — and has already made history of its own as the first Japanese film to receive “Filmed for IMAX” certification. Toho is clearly coming for premium screens, not just ticket sales.

Ramayana’s counterpunch is scale and timing. The film is positioned for IMAX, 3D, and other premium large formats worldwide, and the pre-Diwali date sets up an extended holiday run: Dhanteras on the 6th, then Govardhan Puja/Padwa and Bhai Dooj on November 11 boosting the weekdays. Australia even gets a head start — Sony Pictures Australia has the film opening November 5, a day before the global date and a full day ahead of Godzilla. And in a detail the internet noticed immediately, November 6 is also the birthday of Ranbir Kapoor’s daughter Raha — which the actor has called a beautiful coincidence.

Full circleArun Govil as King Dashrath

Today also brought the opening shot of the film’s character-poster campaign — and it’s a masterstroke of casting nostalgia. The makers unveiled a solo poster of Arun Govil as King Dashrath, the ruler of Ayodhya and father of Lord Ram. Govil, of course, is the actor who became the face of Lord Ram for an entire generation in Ramanand Sagar’s 1987 television Ramayan. The poster’s caption said it plainly: “He once brought Ram to life for a generation. Now, he returns to the world of Ramayana as the King of Ayodhya.”

It’s hard to overstate what that casting means to Indian audiences of a certain age. Govil’s Ram wasn’t just a role; for millions of viewers who grew up on Sunday-morning Ramayan, he was Ram — to the point, as he’s discussed in interviews, where people confronted him for smoking because the deity wouldn’t. Seeing him now on the other side of that relationship, as the father, gives the film a layer of continuity no other casting choice could buy. More character posters are expected in the coming days as the campaign builds toward November.

The epicRise of a Legend

The film itself remains one of the most ambitious productions Indian cinema has ever mounted. Directed by Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios with Yash’s Monster Mind Creations, it stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita, and Yash as Ravana, with Sunny Deol as Hanuman, Ravi Dubey as Lakshman, Lara Dutta as Kaikeyi, and Rakul Preet Singh as Shurpanakha. The music comes from A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer — a pairing that tells you everything about the scale of ambition — and the visual effects carry credits invoking artists behind Dune and The Odyssey, in what Sony Pictures said will be “the most immersive 3D cinematic experience ever.”

The rollout is genuinely global: releases in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, plus English for international markets, with Sony Pictures handling distribution worldwide outside India and Dharma Productions overseeing Hindi-speaking markets. Part Two is already dated for Diwali 2027. The tagline on the poster — “Mankind’s greatest story comes to life” — is doing a lot of work, but at this budget, with this cast, on this date, the confidence is at least legible.

Also todayOff-screen drama at Prime Focus

Not all of today’s Ramayana news is celebratory. Bollywood Hungama reported this morning that Income Tax Department searches were carried out at the Mumbai offices of producer Prime Focus, with the company’s shares falling 8% on the news. It’s a developing story and, for now, a sidebar to the release campaign — but with a month until opening day, it’s the kind of headline the makers will want resolved fast.

One month out, the shape of Diwali 2026 is now clear: paid previews November 4, a global opening November 6, a kaiju breathing down its neck for every premium screen on the planet, and the man who was Ram for a generation now playing his father. Gods versus monsters, nostalgia versus novelty — pass the popcorn.