Ramayana First Reactions: Yash’s Ravana Steals the Show as LA Premiere Calls Ranbir Kapoor’s Epic a ‘Grand Spectacle’

The first reactions to Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana are in, and they arrived with the film itself at its world premiere in Los Angeles. The cast and crew gathered at the David Geffen Theatre inside the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Tuesday for an invite-only 3D screening, with Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash walking the red carpet alongside director Nitesh Tiwari and producer Namit Malhotra. The film, internationally titled Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, is set for its worldwide theatrical release on November 5, 2026, with paid previews on November 4.

The early response, reported by Pinkvilla on October 28, was enthusiastic about the film’s scale. Viewers praised the cinematic grandeur, the visual effects, the immersive background score and what they called a respectful portrayal of the sacred epic. Sai Pallavi won appreciation for her grace and screen presence as Sita, while Ranbir Kapoor as Rama and Yash as Ravana both drew praise. One viewer called it “a grand cinematic experience that delivers what it promises in terms of scale, visuals and larger-than-life moments,” and others described it as one of the year’s most immersive cinematic experiences.

But the reaction was not uniformly glowing, and the mixed notes are just as telling. One detailed early impression, widely shared on social media, called Yash’s Ravana “the biggest highlight” and “superb, especially in his introduction portions,” while describing Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi as solid but noting that the divine aura and emotional weight did not always fully translate on screen. The same impression said the film leans more on spectacle and action than on drama and emotion, that the second half drags where Part 1 chooses to end, and that the music — the much-discussed blend involving A. R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer — was its biggest negative, feeling like neither Indian nor Hollywood in places. Another viewer, by contrast, was moved to tears by Ranbir Kapoor’s performance, calling the experience unforgettable.

The premiere also underlined how much is riding on the release beyond India. Advance bookings opened on October 20, with trade trackers reporting roughly 200,000–250,000 tickets sold for opening day. Sony Pictures is handling international distribution, Dharma Productions covers the Hindi market, and the film releases in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, as well as in IMAX.

Here is the Filmverse take: a mixed-but-enthusiastic first reaction is arguably the best outcome this film could have hoped for from a premiere audience, because it confirms the one thing money cannot fake — that the spectacle lands — while leaving the film’s real test, its emotional core, open for Indian audiences to judge from November 5. The split over the music is the detail to watch: for a story this sacred, the score is not background, it is belief, and if audiences at home feel the same way, it could be the difference between a historic opening and a historic run. Yash emerging as the consensus highlight, though, changes the conversation around Part 1 entirely — Ravana, not Rama, may be the performance everyone walks out talking about.

Sources: Pinkvilla, Zoom TV, Latestly, Particle News