Rapper Badshah walked out of a Mumbai screening of Ramayana: Part 1 with a review that has quickly travelled across social media. The film, starring Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, and Yash as Ravana, releases in theatres worldwide on November 5, 2026. Badshah did not hold back. He called the Jatayu sequence “insane,” praised the background music, and admitted the film brought him to tears even though he has known the story since childhood.
What Badshah Said About the Film
Badshah watched the film at a special screening in Mumbai on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, according to reports from the Times of India and Hindustan Times. He later replied to a user on X who said they were excited after seeing early reactions. His full reply read:
“You have to watch it. Namit has delivered. Every frame is breathtaking. The characters feel so real. It made me cry, even when we’ve known the story since our childhood. INCREDIBLE BGM. Ranbir, Sai Pallavi, Ravi Dubey, Yash, Lara Dutta, Arun Govil, Rakul. Everyone nailed it. Jatayu scene is insane. And wait for the moment when the dharti amber theme comes. CLAPSSSS. PLEASE GO WATCH IT.”
The rapper also shared a video outside the theatre where he said, “Ye movie aapko dekhni padegi. I think what Namit committed, he has surpassed it. You have to come and watch it. It is incredible. It is incredible.” He was clearly struck by what producer Namit Malhotra and director Nitesh Tiwari have put together.
Why the Jatayu Scene Stands Out
Badshah is not the only person talking about the Jatayu sequence. In the Ramayana, Jatayu is the king of birds who tries to stop Ravana from carrying Sita away in his flying vehicle, the Pushpak Viman. Ravana cuts down the bird, and the moment is one of the most emotional passages in the epic.
Bringing that scene to screen was not simple. Director Nitesh Tiwari revealed that the Ravana versus Jatayu fight took six and a half years to complete, from the first brief to the final shot. “One action sequence. I can go on and on about it for an hour just to tell you how much effort went into making everything from scratch. And thousands of people have worked on it,” Tiwari said. The team also went through 40 to 50 designs for the Pushpak Viman before settling on the final version, and the design change forced them to reshape the entire action sequence.
The emotional weight of the scene has landed with viewers beyond Badshah. Yash’s seven-year-old son reportedly cried during the Jatayu sequence while watching his father play Ravana. The scene is being described as a benchmark for Indian filmmaking, with one review noting that “the Jatayu vs Ravana sequence setting a new benchmark” for the industry.
The Music Got Its Own Shout-Out
Badshah made a point of highlighting the background music in capital letters. The score comes from two Oscar-winning composers: A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer. Rahman has called Ramayana his biggest film yet and said the soundtrack took three and a half years to develop. The two composers split the work, with each handling different songs and themes before merging their pieces together.
Producer Namit Malhotra shared a story about how Zimmer came on board. He met the Hollywood composer in New York with a full pitch deck and ran through six or seven slides before Zimmer stopped him. “Namit, it is okay. I don’t need to see it,” Zimmer said. Rahman said Zimmer’s presence on the project is “such a blessing” because his name alone will draw audiences in New Zealand and Europe who might otherwise skip an Indian film.
Badshah also told his followers to wait for the “dharti amber theme” moment. That specific piece of music has not been separately released as a single, but the full album arrived on October 22, 2026, featuring Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal on the track “Jai Jai Ram”.
A Cast That Badshah Says ‘Nailed It’
Badshah ran through the cast in his post, naming Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Ravi Dubey, Yash, Lara Dutta, Arun Govil, and Rakul Preet Singh. The film’s ensemble is one of the largest assembled for an Indian production. Sunny Deol plays Lord Hanuman, Ravi Dubey plays Lakshman, Arun Govil plays King Dasharatha, Lara Dutta plays Kaikeyi, Rakul Preet Singh plays Surpanakha, Kajal Aggarwal plays Mandodari, and Anupam Kher has lent his voice to Jatayu. Arun Govil is a notable presence for Indian audiences because he played Lord Rama himself in the 1987 television series Ramayan, one of the most-watched shows in Indian television history.
Yash’s Ravana has drawn particular praise from early viewers, with several reactions calling his performance “magnetic” and the film’s biggest highlight. Badshah’s review adds to that chorus, even as he spreads credit across the whole cast.
The Scale Behind the Screen
Ramayana: Part 1 is being called the biggest Indian film in terms of scale and budget. The two-part project carries a reported combined budget of Rs 4,000 crore, which Yash has clarified covers both films as well as release and promotion costs. The visual effects come from DNEG, the studio behind eight Oscar wins, and Sony Pictures is handling the global release.
The film is releasing in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, with a dubbed English version for overseas markets. Sony is giving it a release across 70,000 screens worldwide, the widest for any Indian film. Advance booking has already crossed Rs 100 crore in India ahead of the November 5 opening, with around 25.68 lakh tickets sold across 83,087 shows in 898 cities.
Not every early reaction has been glowing. Screenings in Los Angeles on October 27 drew mixed responses, with some viewers praising the visuals and Yash’s Ravana while questioning the pacing and emotional depth. The Guardian gave the film a positive review, calling it “a thoroughly engaging, rousing and spectacular Indian epic” and comparing its scale to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.
Release Details for Global Audiences
Ramayana: Part 1 arrives in theatres on Thursday, November 5, 2026. The date falls just before Diwali, and the makers moved the release from a Diwali window to the pre-Diwali period. The film will play in IMAX and other premium formats. For audiences in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and India, tickets are on sale now through standard cinema booking platforms. The second part is scheduled for Diwali 2027 according to several reports, though some outlets have listed 2028 as the target window.
Badshah’s review lands one day before the film opens, and it adds to the growing buzz around a project that has been in development for years. The Jatayu scene, which took six and a half years and thousands of artists to build, is now the moment many viewers are talking about before they have even bought their tickets.
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