---
title: "'Ramayana' Tops IMDb's Most-Anticipated Indian Films"
description: "Nitesh Tiwari's monumental two-part adaptation of the Hindu epic, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Yash, has claimed the top spot on IMDb's most-anticipated Indian movies list for the second half of 2026 — and the scale of the production suggests the excitement is earned."
category: "Entertainment"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/entertainment
author: "Julian Mercado"
published: 2026-06-30T04:54:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-30T04:54:00.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/ramayana-tops-imdb-s-most-anticipated-indian-films
tags: ["Ramayana", "Ranbir Kapoor", "Yash", "Sai Pallavi", "Nitesh Tiwari", "Indian cinema", "IMDb"]
---
# 'Ramayana' Tops IMDb's Most-Anticipated Indian Films

Nitesh Tiwari's monumental two-part adaptation of the Hindu epic, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Yash, has claimed the top spot on IMDb's most-anticipated Indian movies list for the second half of 2026 — and the scale of the production suggests the excitement is earned.

The oldest story in South Asia is about to get one of its biggest screen tellings — and audiences are already leaning in.

## Topping the list

IMDb's ranking of the most anticipated Indian films for the second half of 2026 puts *Ramayana Part 1* at No. 1, drawn from the page-view data of the platform's hundreds of millions of monthly visitors, [Variety reported](https://variety.com/2026/film/news/ranbir-kapoor-yash-ramayana-imdb-most-anticipated-indian-movies-2026-1236798177/). The 20-title list spans five languages — a snapshot of how wide Indian cinema's reach has grown — but it was the epic that drew more traffic than any other, a measure of organic anticipation rather than marketing noise.

## An epic scaled to its source

The story is millennia old: the Hindu epic attributed to the sage Valmiki follows Prince Rama through exile, the abduction of his wife Sita by the demon king Ravana, and a war read across cultures as a struggle between righteousness and chaos. It has been retold from classical Sanskrit theater to shadow-puppet traditions across Southeast Asia. This version is directed by Nitesh Tiwari, known internationally for *Dangal*, and produced by Namit Malhotra's Prime Focus Studios with the VFX house DNEG. The combined budget for both parts has been reported at roughly $500 million — a figure that, if it holds, would rank it among the most expensive productions ever mounted in India.

## The cast and the sound

Ranbir Kapoor plays Lord Rama, with the southern superstar Yash — who broke through globally with the *KGF* films — as the antagonist Ravana; Sai Pallavi portrays Sita and Sunny Deol plays Hanuman. The score pairs Hans Zimmer with A.R. Rahman, an East-meets-West collaboration that signals the film's ambition to travel well beyond the subcontinent. Both installments were shot for IMAX, [India TV News reported](https://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/news/ramayana-release-date-ranbir-kapoor-sai-pallavi-yash-movie-cinemas-2026-03-31-1035780), with Part 1 targeting a Diwali 2026 release and Part 2 a year later — dates that, as with the budget, could shift.

## A bigger moment

*Ramayana* does not top a thin field. The list also features Alia Bhatt's *Alpha*, Shah Rukh Khan's *King*, and a second Yash entry, the crime drama *Toxic*, underscoring how much event-scale cinema India now produces. For hundreds of millions across the Hindu diaspora, staging this story with the production values of a global blockbuster is a long-held dream arriving on screen — and the early IMDb traffic suggests the audience is already there.

## Sources

- [Ranbir Kapoor and Yash's 'Ramayana' tops IMDb's most anticipated Indian movies list](https://variety.com/2026/film/news/ranbir-kapoor-yash-ramayana-imdb-most-anticipated-indian-movies-2026-1236798177/)
- [Ramayana release date: when will the Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Yash movie arrive?](https://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/news/ramayana-release-date-ranbir-kapoor-sai-pallavi-yash-movie-cinemas-2026-03-31-1035780)