The new Bollywood epic film Ramayana: Rise of a Legend premieres in Canada Nov. 4 and more than 16,000 tickets have already been pre-sold.
Canadian movie buffs have so far spent nearly $284,000 to see the Hindi language film, which will be released in Canada with English subtitles and an English dub.
The movie, by filmmaker Namit Malhotra, will be another Canadian Bollywood blockbuster. Earlier this year Dhurandhar: The Revenge became Canada’s highest grossing Indian film at the box office, raking in $10.14 million.
The Indian movie industry, which is based in Mumbai, is booming in step with the 2.57 million-strong South Asian diaspora in Canada.
An adaptation 2,000 years in the making
The Ramayana film is based on an ancient epic poem telling the tale of Ram and the rescuing of his wife, Sita. The poem has been adapted for TV and film numerous times.
Prasad Kadukan of the Vancouver Hindu Cultural Society said the Ramayana teaches “a lasting message to do what is right, treat others with kindness, and fulfill our responsibilities.”
Sunil Bhatt, a Hindi-Urdu language studies professor at the University of British Columbia said that while Bollywood has a lot of international appeal, “it is still working to cross over the way Manga or K-pop does.”
He said the Ramayana film has a great chance of crossover as the story is “Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey put together.”
The Indian diaspora is not the only group interested in the new film.
“It has such purity and light,” said Leanne Campbell, a Canadian of Anglo-Irish descent.
According to Bhatt, most of his Bollywood film studies students are of South Asian origin, but at least 10 per cent are Canadians from other backgrounds who are often introduced to Bollywood by South Asian friends.
Kadukan said that for Indians in Canada, the Ramayana film “connects us to our roots,” but it is also a joy watching Indian films “bring our stories to a wider Canadian audience.”
Bollywood’s role in the diaspora
Bhatt says Bollywood is especially meaningful to the diaspora as it is a connection to their home country. It allows them to feel India’s pulse, because the “films are made on hot topics at the time.”
Bollywood also represents minority Indian communities. The controversial Hindi film Satluj about Sikh activist Jaswant Singh Khalra was removed from Indian streaming services, but it found life with local showings at Sikh temples and Khalsa schools in Surrey, B.C., Brampton, Ont. and Edmonton, Alta.
Indian films of all languages have grown in popularity in Canada.
“South India has its own [film] industry,” Bhatt said, adding that the Canadian South Indian film market is growing — and even having turf wars over distribution rights.
But Bollywood’s Hindi films are still most popular as they are “a very pan-India thing,” he said.
Malhotra’s Ramayana has already locked in screenings at 43 per cent of Canada’s mainstream cinemas, with 83 screenings across Cineplex’s 156 theatres as well as Landmark 36’s locations.
Bollywood has been gaining market share in Canada. In 2013, 15 Cineplex locations screened Bollywood films. Ramayana’s 2026 showings are scheduled for 57 locations.
Bhatt said Bollywood began telling diaspora stories in the 1990s, which allowed global stars such as Shah Rukh Khan to become a darling of the diaspora. Bhatt said Khan’s films “gave India a window into the diaspora, and diaspora people some representation in Bollywood.”
Overseas revenue makes up roughly 20 per cent of Bollywood’s total revenue, with more than half coming from the Indian diaspora.
The newest Ramayana is the most expensive Hindi language film made to date. The film and its sequel, which is set for release in November 2027, reportedly cost more than CDN $589 million to produce.
Filmmaker Namit Malhotra worked on other blockbuster movies, including The Odyssey, Dune and Interstellar. The film’s soundtrack was composed by Hollywood’s Hans Zimmer and Bollywood’s A.R. Rahman, who has a street named after him in Markham, Ont.
Bollywood has returned to patriotic films and Ramayana is “playing into this nationalistic mood,” as every Indian with a Hindu background knows the story, Bhatt said.
“In India we have two religions. One is cricket, the other is Bollywood.”
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Lorne Putman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, New Canadian Media.