EXPLAINER: Ramayana broke 7 opening-day records, from Ranbir Kapoor’s career-best to the biggest pre-Diwali Hindi opening. Two old records still stand above it.
Updated: 6 November 2026, 10:00 IST
Quick Read
- Ramayana made ₹64.85 crore net in India on Day 1 (Sacnilk). That is Ranbir Kapoor’s career-best opening.
- It broke 7 records, including the biggest pre-Diwali Hindi opening by gross.
- It did NOT beat Adipurush (₹86.75 cr), Dhurandhar 2 (₹102.55 cr), or Jawan’s Hindi Day 1 (₹75 cr).
The 7 records
Ramayana Part 1 broke seven opening-day records on Day 1. It gave Ranbir Kapoor the biggest opening of his career. It gave director Nitesh Tiwari his biggest opening too. And it became the second-biggest Hindi opener of 2026. But it did not break them all. Adipurush, Dhurandhar 2, and Jawan still sit above it. Here is the full list, record by record, with the numbers that prove each one.
Here is the scoreboard. Every figure comes from trade tracker Sacnilk, as reported by NDTV on 6 November.
| Record | Old holder | Old figure | Ramayana |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranbir Kapoor’s biggest opening | Animal (2023) | ₹63.80 cr | ₹64.85 cr |
| Sai Pallavi’s biggest opening | Amaran | ~₹21.40 cr | ₹64.85 cr |
| Nitesh Tiwari’s biggest opening | Dangal (2016) | ₹29.78 cr | ₹64.85 cr |
| 2nd-biggest Hindi opener of 2026 | Drishyam 3 | ~₹62 cr | ₹64.85 cr |
| Biggest pre-Diwali Hindi opening (gross) | Thugs of Hindostan (2018) | ₹50.75 cr nett | ~₹72 cr gross |
| 3rd-biggest Hindi opening day ever | — | — | ~₹72 cr Hindi gross |
| Yash’s 3rd-biggest opening | KGF 2, Toxic | — | ₹64.85 cr |
Also read: Ramayana Part 1: Day 1 advance booking crosses ₹49.75 crore
Ranbir’s biggest opening
This is the headline record. Ramayana beat Animal by just ₹1.05 crore. Animal made ₹63.80 crore net in India on its opening day in 2023. Ramayana made ₹64.85 crore. That is a thin margin, but a margin is a margin. It is now the biggest opening of Ranbir Kapoor’s career.
Animal was a violent action film. Ramayana is a mythological epic. The two could not be more different. Yet the new film edged past the old one on day one.
The margin was thin — just ₹1.05 crore. A few thousand tickets either way would have changed the result. But records do not care about margins. Animal held the mark for three years. Now Ramayana holds it.
The director and the co-stars
Nitesh Tiwari got his biggest opening by a long way. His 2016 film Dangal, starring Aamir Khan, opened at ₹29.78 crore net in India. Ramayana made more than double that — 2.18 times, to be exact. Dangal went on to become one of the biggest Indian films ever. Tiwari will hope Ramayana follows the same path.
Sai Pallavi also got her biggest opening. Her last best was Amaran, at about ₹21.40 crore on Day 1. Ramayana has tripled that. She plays Sita, opposite Ranbir’s Ram.
Yash, who plays Ravana, now has his third-biggest opening. KGF: Chapter 2 and Toxic sit above it. KGF 2 made ₹116 crore net in India on Day 1. That is still far ahead of Ramayana.
The 2026 chart
Ramayana is the second-biggest Hindi opener of 2026. It passed Drishyam 3, which made about ₹62 crore on its opening day, per NDTV. It sits behind Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which opened at ₹102.55 crore across languages earlier this year. The gap is ₹37.70 crore. That is a big gap. It is the first Bollywood film to cross ₹100 crore net on Day 1.
One honest note: trade reports mix their measures. The “second-biggest Hindi opener” tag compares all-language net totals. The “biggest pre-Diwali Hindi opening” tag uses the Hindi version’s gross, about ₹72 crore. And the Thugs of Hindostan figure it beat, ₹50.75 crore, is a nett figure from 2018. Net and gross are not the same thing. Net is what stays after tax. Gross is the full ticket sale. So read the record list with that in mind. The records are real, but the yardstick changes from row to row.
Also read: India vs New Zealand 1st ODI: Kohli passes Tendulkar’s record
The all-time Hindi list
By Hindi opening-day gross, Ramayana is the third-biggest ever. It sits behind Dhurandhar: The Revenge and Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan, which made around ₹75 crore net in Hindi on its first day. The Hindi version’s gross of about ₹72 crore is an early trade estimate, not a final Sacnilk number. It may move a little when final figures come in.
Jawan’s record is worth a closer look. It made about ₹75 crore net in Hindi on Day 1 in 2023. That is a nett figure, while Ramayana’s ₹72 crore is a gross estimate. Net and gross are counted in different ways, so the two numbers do not line up neatly. The final Sacnilk figures will show where Ramayana truly stands.
What it did NOT break
Three big marks still stand. Adipurush holds the all-language Day 1 record for a Hindi film opening: ₹86.75 crore net in 2023. Ramayana is ₹21.90 crore short. Dhurandhar 2 holds the 2026 record at ₹102.55 crore. And Jawan holds the Hindi-version Day 1 mark at about ₹75 crore net.
Adipurush is the odd one. It opened huge and then flopped. Its record is about one day only. Nobody in the trade treats it as a mark of a good film. But as a number, it still stands.
Also read: Jailer 2 Day 21 box office: ₹821.10 crore worldwide
Day 2 will tell us more. Friday advance bookings stood at ₹30.63 crore gross as of 6:20 am on 6 November. If the Diwali weekend holds up, Ramayana can still chase the lifetime records. The opening-day records are only the start.
FAQs
Q: How many records did Ramayana break on Day 1?
A: Seven, per NDTV’s records round-up: Ranbir Kapoor’s career-best opening, Sai Pallavi’s biggest opening, Nitesh Tiwari’s biggest opening, second-biggest Hindi opener of 2026, biggest pre-Diwali Hindi opening by gross, third-biggest Hindi opening day ever, and Yash’s third-biggest opening.
Q: Is Ramayana Ranbir Kapoor’s biggest opening?
A: Yes. It made ₹64.85 crore net in India on Day 1, beating Animal’s ₹63.80 crore from 2023 by ₹1.05 crore, according to Sacnilk figures reported by NDTV.
Q: Did Ramayana beat Dhurandhar 2’s opening record?
A: No. Dhurandhar: The Revenge opened at ₹102.55 crore net across languages, the first Bollywood film to cross ₹100 crore on Day 1. Ramayana’s ₹64.85 crore is ₹37.70 crore behind it.
Sources
- NDTV — All The Box Office Records Broken By Ramayana On Day 1 (6 Nov 2026)
- Sacnilk — Ramayana Box Office Collection Day 1 (6 Nov 2026)
- Business Today — Ramayana box office collection day 1 (6 Nov 2026)
- Times Now — Ramayana Part 1 Box Office Collection Day 1 (5 Nov 2026)
- ABP Live — Ramayana Opens At Rs 64.85 Cr (6 Nov 2026)
Sasanka Sekhar Pradhan is the founder of India Presents, an India-focused news site. He covers daily box-office trackers, India news, economy explainers, sports previews and festival guides — in simple English, so readers across India can follow fast-moving stories without jargon. His focus is what a story means for the reader: the number that matters, the source behind it, and what happens next. India Presents publishes daily, with day-trackers updated as new figures come in.
