Sony takes Ramayana worldwide. India stays with Dharma.

Sony Pictures has signed on as international distributor for Ramayana, the two-part mythological epic from Namit Malhotra's Prime Focus Studios, covering every territory outside India. Dharma Productions will handle the India release. The announcement landed in late July 2026, hours before a public trailer drop fans had circled, and producer Malhotra pushed that trailer to a later global date so the campaign could move on Sony's calendar. Comic-Con still got a Ballroom 20 first look. The internet waited for the file.

That split is the business story. For years, Indian event cinema overseas has leaned on diaspora weekends, Gulf runs, and the occasional crossover aftershock (RRR, the Baahubali road shows). Sony's job is different: put Ramayana through a major-studio theatrical pipe outside India, with marketing designed for audiences who do not already know Valmiki by heart. The film is planned in multiple languages, including an English-language version, and carries the Filmed for IMAX label as the first Indian production to get that designation. Diwali 2026 is the Part 1 target, with Part 2 aimed at Diwali 2027.

The package is built to survive that ask. Nitesh Tiwari directs. Ranbir Kapoor plays Rama, Sai Pallavi plays Sita, and Yash plays Ravana, with Monster Mind Creations among the producers. Oscar winners Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman share the score. DNEG, also led by Malhotra, is on visual effects. Action work includes Terry Notary and Guy Norris. Prime Focus already co-produced The Garfield Movie with Alcon for Sony, a title Variety notes cleared more than $257 million worldwide. The relationship is not cold outreach; it is a studio that has already sold Prime Focus product in Western multiplexes.

India still matters on Indian terms. Reports put Dharma's domestic distribution pact in the ₹250 crore range after studio shopping around a longer cut. That is a separate ledger from Sony's overseas play: one company owns the festival-weekend machine at home, another owns the international booking sheet. Industry talk has also floated a fee-on-cost style marketing partnership with tens of millions of dollars in combined P&A for Part 1. Treat those spend figures as reporting, not a published studio filing, until more confirmation lands.

Our read: The trailer delay was not a soft flop. It was the tell. Malhotra framed the Sony deal as the moment Ramayana can be shown to the world the way a major Hollywood film is shown, and he was willing to miss a July 24 digital drop to keep the first public cut inside that machine. Diaspora readers already know how soft power travels when the pins and the plaza work. Sony is the bet that the next step is screens that do not need a prior group chat about Rama to sell a ticket.