The biggest casting announcement in Indian cinema this decade just landed — and it carries the weight of an epic that has shaped civilisation for millennia. Dharma Productions confirmed on Saturday, 26 September 2026 that director Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana will release worldwide in cinemas on Diwali 2026, shot in IMAX — with a cast and creative team that signals nothing less than a global statement of intent.

The cast that stopped the internet

The announcement names Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravie Dubey as Laxman, and Sunny Deol as Hanuman. It is, by any measure, a roster built for scale — the brooding intensity of Yash as the demon king alone is a creative provocation that will drive conversation for months. The studio framed the film in terms that go beyond commerce: 'Our Truth. Our History.' — three words that position Ramayana not as adaptation but as reclamation.

Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman sharing a score

Perhaps the single most audacious creative decision in the announcement is the music credit: Hans Zimmer — the composer behind the sonic architecture of The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar — collaborating with A.R. Rahman, the Oscar-winning maestro who redefined what Indian film music could sound like on a world stage. Two composers who each command an entire grammar of cinematic emotion, working on the same film. That pairing alone announces which tier this production is aiming for.

Nitesh Tiwari at the helm of an epic

Nitesh Tiwari brings his reputation for large-canvas, emotionally grounded storytelling to the project. Indian cinema has a centuries-deep relationship with the Ramayana — from stage productions and television serials to animated films — but a theatrically released, IMAX-formatted, internationally distributed version of this scale has no direct precedent in Hindi cinema. The decision to shoot for IMAX signals a production designed to be experienced as an event, not merely watched.

Dharma and T-Series anchor North India distribution

India distribution for the North is handled jointly by Dharma Distribution and T-Series, pairing two of the country's most powerful entertainment entities for a release timed to one of the biggest box-office windows of the year. A Diwali 2026 release places the film in a festive corridor that has historically delivered the year's largest opening weekends. The worldwide simultaneous release in IMAX signals that the makers are targeting not just the Indian domestic market but the global diaspora and international audience for Indian epic cinema.

When a production stakes its identity on the phrase 'Our Truth. Our History.' and then assembles Hans Zimmer, A.R. Rahman, Ranbir Kapoor, and Yash to deliver it — the question is no longer whether this will be the most-watched Indian film announcement of the year. The question is whether Indian cinema has ever swung this hard before.