Some film events are designed to announce a movie. Others are designed to make you understand the scale of the world that movie is trying to create. The special Ramayana: Part 1 3D showcase in Mumbai belonged firmly to the second category.
Swati Bhat
Held on September 26 at DNEG Prime One Studios in Film City, Mumbai, the event brought together director Nitesh Tiwari, producer Namit Malhotra, Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Ravie Dubey and global digital creator MrBeast for a special showcase around one of the most closely watched Indian films of 2026. What made the evening particularly intriguing was the combination of two worlds that rarely share the same frame:The timeless cultural universe of the Ramayana and the contemporary global language of digital entertainment.
A Showcase Reflecting the Scale of Ramayana: Part 1
The choice of DNEG Prime One Studios was fitting. Ramayana: Part 1 is not being mounted as a conventional mythological film. The project is being built around large-scale filmmaking and visual effects, with Prime Focus Studios, DNEG and Monster Mind Creations behind the production. The official studio material describes the film as a two-part cinematic franchise directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra.
That context was impossible to ignore at the Mumbai showcase.
The 3D presentation shifted attention from simply asking what the actors looked like in costume to a larger question: how does one translate an epic that has lived in India's collective imagination for centuries into a contemporary cinematic experience?
That is where the event found its strongest identity.
Rather than treating spectacle as the only attraction, the presentation placed technology, scale and storytelling at the centre. The film's visual effects are being handled by DNEG, while the music combines the creative worlds of A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer.
Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi remain the emotional centre
At the heart of the evening were Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi, playing Rama and Sita. Ranbir Kapoor's casting as Rama has been one of the defining talking points around the film since the first look was unveiled. In the official introduction to the character, Kapoor said he did not see himself as representing Rama, but rather as trying to learn from him an approach that gives some indication of how the makers have chosen to position the character.
Sai Pallavi's Sita, meanwhile, represents the other half of the film's emotional foundation.
The recent motion poster released by the makers deliberately moved away from battle imagery and visual grandeur to present a quieter moment between Ram and Siya. That choice suggested that the film's visual ambition is not intended to replace its emotional core.
And that balance matters.
A story as familiar as the Ramayana does not need its audience to discover the plot. It needs the cinematic treatment to make the journey feel immediate again.
Ravie Dubey adds another important presence
Ravie Dubey, who plays Lakshman, was also part of the Mumbai gathering.
His presence alongside Kapoor and Pallavi completed the central familial dynamic that sits at the beginning of Ram's journey. The casting places Dubey in one of the epic's most emotionally significant relationships that of Lakshman, whose loyalty and presence remain integral to the narrative.
The larger ensemble includes Yash as Ravana and Sunny Deol as Hanuman, with other prominent actors attached to the project.
Then came MrBeast and the room changed
If the 3D showcase established the film's cinematic scale, MrBeast's appearance gave the event an entirely different dimension.
The American creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, joined Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Nitesh Tiwari, Namit Malhotra and Ravie Dubey at the Mumbai event.
MrBeast's participation was not merely a celebrity cameo for the cameras. His presence connected Ramayana with the world's enormous creator economy — an audience ecosystem very different from conventional film publicity.
One of the most talked-about moments from the event came when Ranbir Kapoor helped MrBeast say “Jai Shri Ram”. MrBeast also interacted with the team and spoke about the film during the showcase. There was something inherently contemporary about the moment: a story that has travelled across generations through scriptures, oral traditions, theatre, television and cinema was now meeting an audience shaped by YouTube, short-form video and global creator culture. That juxtaposition may ultimately be one of the most interesting aspects of the Ramayana campaign.
Nitesh Tiwari's challenge is not simply scale
For director Nitesh Tiwari, the biggest challenge is unlikely to be convincing audiences that Ramayana is visually large. The trailers and promotional material have already made that ambition clear.
The more difficult task is making that scale serve the story.
Tiwari has previously described his approach as being rooted in the emotional richness of the epic, saying that the story is not simply about good versus evil but about choices, consequences and the weight of doing what is right.
That distinction is important because spectacular imagery can create an impression, but it cannot carry an epic by itself. The strongest material associated with Ramayana so far has therefore been the material that places the characters inside the spectacle Ranbir's Rama, Sai Pallavi's Sita, Ravie Dubey's Lakshman and the looming presence of Yash's Ravana.
Namit Malhotra's global ambition is visible
Producer Namit Malhotra has positioned Ramayana as a project designed to travel beyond the traditional boundaries of Indian cinema. The film's production architecture itself reflects that intention. Prime Focus Studios is producing the project in association with Double NEGative aka DNEG and Monster Mind Creations, while Sony Pictures is handling international markets and Dharma Productions is distributing across North India's Hindi-speaking markets, according to Prime Focus Studios. The film's trailer was released globally in five Indian languages in July, another indication of the scale of its intended audience.
Against that backdrop, having MrBeast at a Mumbai showcase suddenly makes sense as part of a broader promotional language, one that does not stop at traditional Bollywood publicity.
The real spectacle may be the collision of old and new
And this is where the Mumbai event becomes more interesting than a standard trailer launch. Ramayana is built around one of the oldest and most enduring narratives associated with Indian culture. Yet its presentation is increasingly speaking the language of modern global entertainment, large-format filmmaking, advanced VFX, international creative talent, global distribution and creator-led promotion. The event brought all of those elements into one room.
Nitesh Tiwari represents the filmmaking vision. Namit Malhotra represents the production and technology ecosystem behind it. Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi carry the central characters. Ravie Dubey represents one of the epic's most important relationships. And MrBeast brings a digital audience that exists largely outside the conventional film publicity machinery. That combination made the event feel less like another promotional stop and more like a statement about how Indian stories can be packaged for a global cinematic and digital audience.
Whether the final film successfully balances devotion, character, spectacle and technology will ultimately be decided when audiences see the complete picture.
For now, the Mumbai 3D showcase made one thing clear: Ramayana: Part 1 is being presented not merely as another mythological film, but as a large-scale cinematic interpretation of a story that already belongs to millions of people.
The film is scheduled for worldwide theatrical release on November 6, 2026, with the second part planned for 2027. And perhaps that is the most fascinating challenge ahead not making the Ramayana feel bigger, but making something this familiar feel new without losing what made it endure in the first place.
The ambition, however, appears to extend well beyond the first chapter. According to DNEG Insider, preliminary work on Ramayana: Part 2 has already begun, indicating that the visual-effects and production machinery for the next instalment is already moving behind the scenes. While the makers have yet to publicly detail the extent of this work, the development adds another layer to a project being conceived on an unusually large scale.
