1.2 lakh tickets in an hour! Ramayana breaks Dhurandhar 2 record, but Ranveer Singh leads by ₹248 crore

Ranbir Kapoor's ‘'Ramayana': Part 1’ has delivered a major box-office surprise, breaking a ticket-booking record previously held by Ranveer Singh's ‘'Dhurandhar 2': The Revenge’.

The Nitesh Tiwari-directed mythological epic sold more than 1.20 lakh tickets on BookMyShow in a single hour on Monday, November 9, surpassing the hourly benchmark set by the Singh blockbuster.

However, in worldwide box-office collections, ‘Dhurandhar 2’ continues to lead by a substantial margin.

The latest development has added another interesting dimension to the box-office comparison between the two big-ticket releases.

While 'Ramayana' initially struggled to match the advance bookings of 'Dhurandhar 2', its ticket sales gathered momentum over the extended Diwali weekend.

Ramayana breaks Dhurandhar 2's BookMyShow record

According to reports, 'Ramayana' sold more than 1.20 lakh tickets within a single hour on Monday, setting a new record in BookMyShow's hourly tracking history, which began in August 2023.

The film surpassed the previous benchmark set by 'Dhurandhar 2', which overtook Pushpa 2 during its opening-day booking surge in March.

Demand for 'Ramayana' also rose sharply during the morning hours. Between 9 am and 10 am on Monday, the film sold approximately 91,500 tickets, marking a 67 per cent jump compared with the 54,760 tickets booked during the same hour on Sunday.

The Diwali holiday appears to have driven the surge. The film also surpassed 'Dhurandhar 2' in daily BookMyShow ticket sales on Sunday, November 8, after trailing the Singh-starrer for the first three days.

According to Sacnilk's BookMyShow tracking, 'Ramayana' sold 10.80 lakh tickets on Sunday against 'Dhurandhar 2’'s 10.40 lakh, registering a lead of approximately 3.8 per cent.

₹499 crore vs ₹747 crore: 'Dhurandhar 2' retains box-office advantage

Despite the impressive ticket-booking milestones, 'Ramayana' still has considerable ground to cover to match the theatrical performance of 'Dhurandhar 2'.

According to the four-day box-office comparison published by Hindustan Times, 'Ramayana' collected approximately ₹507 crore worldwide during its extended opening weekend.

By comparison, 'Dhurandhar 2' earned ₹747 crore worldwide in its first four days.

Another Sacnilk-based estimate puts 'Ramayana''s four-day worldwide gross at ₹499.20 crore. The difference reflects variations in trade estimates and reporting cut-offs.

In India, 'Ramayana' collected ₹238.85 crore net during its first four days, according to Sacnilk.

The film's opening-day collection stood at ₹64.85 crore, followed by ₹48.05 crore on Friday and ₹69.80 crore on Saturday. On Sunday, coinciding with Diwali, it earned ₹56.15 crore.

Meanwhile, 'Dhurandhar 2' went on to record a reported worldwide lifetime collection of about ₹1,813 crore, making it one of India's biggest blockbusters.

Can Ranbir Kapoor challenge Ranveer Singh's box-office crown?

The comparison gets even more interesting when you factor in advance bookings. 'Dhurandhar 2' had a considerable head start, recording 24.10 lakh BookMyShow pre-sales against 'Ramayana''s 10.60 lakh.

By the end of their respective first four days, the cumulative BookMyShow ticket sales stood at 82.60 lakh for 'Dhurandhar 2' and 54.76 lakh for 'Ramayana'.

However, the latter's consistent performance has helped it enter an elite group of Indian films. It became the sixth Indian film to record more than one million BookMyShow ticket bookings on four consecutive days.

With its fifth-day ticket-booking record and a worldwide collection that has crossed the ₹500-crore mark, 'Ramayana' has demonstrated considerable theatrical potential.

The bigger challenge, however, remains sustaining this momentum beyond the festive holiday period.

For now, Kapoor has taken the ticket-booking battle away from Singh, but 'Dhurandhar 2' still holds the bigger box-office crown.