The Academy Museum hosted a 945-seat 3D screening of Ramayana: Part 1 ahead of its November 5 global release, with Sony handling the film outside India and Dharma inside it.
Los Angeles got its first proper look at Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Part 1 on Tuesday night, and it came with the kind of fanfare usually reserved for a Hollywood tentpole. The premiere, an invite-only affair, played out at the David Geffen Theatre inside the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, a 945-seat hall that reportedly had fans outside chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' as the cast arrived.
Ranbir Kapoor, who plays Lord Rama, showed up in a silver bandhgala suit over black trousers, traditional but sharp. Yash, who plays Ravana and also produces the film through his Monster Mind Creations, went the opposite way in an all-black outfit with an ornate brooch and sunglasses, his wife Radhika Pandit beside him in a green-and-gold silk saree.
Sai Pallavi's look is where the reporting splits. Rediff describes her in a pink sari. The Free Press Journal has her in a red zardosi saree with heavy embroidery, hair left loose, makeup kept minimal. Either way, she was there as Sita, and that's the part everyone's watching her for after months of first-look drops and character posters.
Not everyone made it. Ravie Dubey, cast as Lakshman, and Rakul Preet Singh, playing Surpanakha, skipped the event, and neither outlet offers a reason. Director Nitesh Tiwari and producer Namit Malhotra were present, posing with the three leads for photographers, and the guest list stretched beyond the cast to names like Jada Pinkett Smith, Rohini Iyer, Benji Kelly and Gisella Marengo.
The scale of the night matches the scale of the project. Ramayana is being made in two parts on a combined budget of around Rs 4,000 crore, per the Free Press Journal, which would put it among the most expensive films to come out of India. Prime Focus Studios and the Oscar-winning VFX house DNEG are behind the production, with Sunny Deol playing Hanuman in a cast that spans Bollywood and the Kannada industry.
Distribution is split by geography. Sony Pictures is releasing the film everywhere outside India. Inside the country, Dharma Productions takes the Hindi version, while the film also opens in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, with an IMAX rollout planned.
Part 1 lands in theatres on November 5. Part 2, by the current plan, arrives next Diwali. Whether the LA reception translates into the kind of opening weekend this budget needs is the question that starts mattering the moment the lights come up in Indian multiplexes a week from now.
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