Mumbai: A scene showing Sita and Lakshman fighting off demons in the forest is missing from the Indian release of Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, even as it features in the Hindi version playing overseas. A clip of the sequence has been circulating on social media since Saturday, with Indian viewers questioning why it was left out of the domestic release.
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana released in cinemas last Thursday, 5 November. The film has already earned nearly Rs 500 crore worldwide in its first four days, according to Sacnilk.
The scene unfolds during Rama, Sita and Lakshman’s exile in the forest. Sita and Lakshman are chased by three wolf-like demons and take shelter in a cave behind a waterfall after Lakshman is injured.
The demons eventually find them. Sita reaches for a weapon, while Lakshman prepares to fight despite his injury. Before the demons can attack, Rama arrives and kills all three with his arrows.
A viewer who watched the film in the US claimed that the sequence was included in the Hindi version screened there.
“They’ve removed such a cool scene of ram saving sita and lakshman from the hindi version released in india. but the hindi version playing here in the US has it and it looks soooo cool,” the user wrote on X.
Another viewer tagged producer Namit Malhotra, asking him to add the sequence to the Indian release.
The scene’s omission comes amid reports of other differences between the versions of Ramayana being screened in India and overseas. The international English version is reportedly around 30 minutes shorter than the Hindi version released in India, with some songs and scenes removed.
Ramayana opened with Rs 64.85 crore net at the Indian box office on Thursday, according to Sacnilk. This was the second-biggest Bollywood opening of 2026, behind Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which collected Rs 102.55 crore net on its first day.
By Sunday, Ramayana had earned Rs 238.85 crore net in India and Rs 499.20 crore gross worldwide.
The film also surpassed Dhurandhar: The Revenge‘s record for the most tickets sold on BookMyShow in an hour. According to Sacnilk, Ramayana sold more than 1.11 lakh tickets in an hour on Monday, beating the previous record of 1,09,170.
The film also crossed 10 lakh daily bookings on BookMyShow for four consecutive days.
The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, Yash as Ravana and Sunny Deol as Hanuman.
The second part is scheduled to release on Diwali 2028.
(Edited By Raunaq Lekhi)