Why Ramayana: Rise of a Legend Part 2 Will Premiere in 2028, Not 2027

The prince, an archer, continues training as a soldier before marrying Sita. While Ram lives out his fairytale romance his dad, King Dasharatha, ultimately exiles him for 14 years at the behest of Bharata’s mom, Queen Kaikeyi. (One of Dasharatha’s three wives, Kaikeyi demanded her son take the throne.)

Ram doesn’t leave alone, however. Sita and Lakshmana join him on this journey, fighting demons along the way. 

With such an unforgettable ending to the epic—which Diwali commemorates each year—Malhotra knew their team would need another year to work on part two.

“We want to take a little bit more time to make sure that when we present the grand finale,” he explained, “that we have a little bit more time to do the same thing that we did on part one.”

“That extra year, I think, is what I genuinely believe we need to do justice to a film of this size,” he explained. “Especially when you see part two coming in, that will be a whole other story of what happens there.”

After all, the sequel will follow Ram’s journey to find Sita after she was kidnapped by Ravana.

“We didn’t want to do a rush job or get ahead of ourselves,” he added, “and we wanted to make sure that we delivered the finale in as much grandeur as it deserves.”

Meanwhile, Kapoor was focused on making sure he and Pallavi gave Ram and Sita’s loving dynamic the grandeur it deserved, too.

“The relationship between Lord Ram and Sita is not really about expressing everything you feel, but actually just looking at each other and understanding,” he told E!. “It also tells us that love is not about being together when times are good, but also standing by each other when you know times are hard.”

“In the entire story of the Ramayana, I think it’s Sita Ma’s character who actually experiences the greatest loss,” the Animal actor reflected. “Sita sacrifices everything to be with Lord Ram. There’s so much good learnings of love, of sacrifice, of compassion, of togetherness. I hope that it resonates with today’s youth all across the world, not just Indians.”

While fans wait to see Ramayana: Rise of a Legend Part One in theaters beginning Nov. 5, in time for Diwali, keep reading for more movies to add to your watchlist.