Ramayana: Part 1 is listed for Australian cinemas on 5 November: the dates, the languages and what is still unconfirmed
Image: AI-generated illustration.
HOYTS has five separate pages for it. Event Cinemas gives it a running time of 220 minutes. Mind Blowing Films has it on the coming-soon strip of its home page. All three carry the same date, Thursday 5 November 2026, a day before the 6 November date Sony Pictures Entertainment announced for its global release and three days before Diwali. Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Part 1, with Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Yash as Ravana and Sai Pallavi as Sita, is on its way to Australia, and Sony’s own Australian arm has put the date on its upload of the trailer.
What the Australian listings say
As at 28 September, HOYTS lists Ramayana in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. Each version is marked “Eng Sub”, each carries a release date of 5 November 2026, and each is marked CTC, the “Check the Classification” message that advertising for unclassified films must carry under Australia’s classification rules. The HOYTS synopsis reads: “In an age of gods and kings, the fate of worlds hangs in the balance. Rama, a prince bound by duty, sacrifice, and righteousness, must confront Ravana, an immortal ruler driven by pride and vengeance, powerful enough to shatter the cosmos.”
Event Cinemas lists “Ramayana (Hindi)” with a release date of 05/11/2026, a running time of 220 minutes and the same CTC marking. Mind Blowing Films’ coming-soon page lists “Ramayana Part 1” for 5 November 2026 in “Hindi (With English Subtitles)”, naming Namit Malhotra and Yash as producers. No English-language version appears in any Australian listing found, and none of the HOYTS or Event pages carries an IMAX, 4DX or ScreenX flag. HOYTS and Event also list Godzilla Minus Zero for 5 November.
Three dates, and one that is not official
Sony Pictures Entertainment, which holds the distribution rights for all territories outside India, has dated the film for Friday 6 November. Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap all reported the date on 3 September, Australian time. Variety’s wording: “Sony Pictures Entertainment is set to release ‘Ramayana’ globally on November 6”. None of the three mentioned Australia.
India is a separate case. In an interview with NDTV reported by Bollywood Hungama on 8 August, producer Namit Malhotra said the film would release in India on Diwali itself, which falls on Sunday 8 November this year. When the interviewer raised the 6 November date, he said: “So, we are releasing internationally (on November 6). The international distribution works from a Friday standpoint. So, that is on the 6th of November. But India currently we are targeting a release on Diwali.”
The Australian date is Sony’s own. On 9 September, US time, the Sony Pictures Releasing Australia channel on YouTube published the trailer with the description “coming to Australian cinemas November 5” and, at the end of the description, the line “IN CINEMAS NOVEMBER 5, 2026”. Event Cinemas uses that upload for the “View Trailer” link on its listing. Sony Pictures Singapore’s channel gives the same date for that market. Indian outlets picked it up on 10 September: India TV reported that Sony Pictures “has announced a November 5 release for Australia through its official social media handle”, and Kalinga TV and Dainik Jagran carried the same date the same day. No Sony press release naming Australia has been found; the trailer upload and the cinema listings are the public record of the date.
Then, on 28 September, Bollywood Hungama reported a further change. Its source said: “The makers of Ramayana have now decided to release their labour of love on Thursday, November 5. Also, this time, the plan is to release it across the world, that is, in India as well as overseas, on the same day. The stakeholders are more or less on board with this new release date. If it gets final approval, the makers will make an official announcement.” Free Press Journal and NewsBytes repeated the report within hours. Sacnilk summed up the position the same day: “November 5 remains a reported release plan rather than an officially announced date”.
For Australian audiences the position is simpler. Whatever India settles on, the local listings say Thursday 5 November.
Who made it
Ramayana is directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios in collaboration with Yash’s Monster Mind Creations. DNEG, the visual effects company of which Malhotra is chief executive, sets out the cast on its own site: “Ranbir Kapoor stars as Rama, Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Sunny Deol as Hanuman, and Ravie Dubey as Lakshmana.” Visual effects come from DNEG and ReDefine, and both parts are filmed for IMAX, according to DNEG and Variety.
The film marks, in DNEG’s words, “the first collaboration between Oscar-winning music legends Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman”. Action is choreographed by Terry Notary and Guy Norris, production design is by Ramsey Avery and Ravi Bansal, and the credits published with the trailer name Shridhar Raghavan and Nitesh Tiwari for the adaptation. Arun Govil, who played Rama in Ramanand Sagar’s television Ramayan, appears as King Dasharatha. Variety and Bollywood Hungama both report that Dharma Productions is distributing the film in India.
The road to November
Malhotra announced the two-part structure on 6 November 2024, writing on Instagram: “Part 1 in Diwali 2026 and Part 2 in Diwali 2027.” The first glimpse, “Ramayana: The Introduction”, was released on Thursday 3 July 2025.
The Sony deal was announced on 24 July this year, 23 July in the United States. Malhotra’s statement read: “my dream of taking Ramayana to the world is now a reality with our partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment.” The trailer had been screened to guests at a launch event in Delhi on 18 July. Its worldwide online release was postponed when the Sony deal was announced, and came on Thursday 30 July at 4:15am India time.
What to know before you book
In Australia the film is listed in five Indian languages, all with English subtitles at HOYTS. Diwali falls on Sunday 8 November, so a Thursday opening puts the first screenings three days before the festival. The Event Cinemas running time of 220 minutes is a listing figure, not an official one, and the listings still carry CTC as at 28 September, so parents should check the rating once it appears. Part 2 is due at Diwali 2027.
