Ramayana box office Day 2: Smashes Rs 221 crore worldwide, eyes Rs 500-crore weekend

Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Rise of a Legend entered the coveted Rs 200-crore worldwide club within two days of its release. The film collected Rs 48.05 crore nett in India and grossed Rs 35 crore overseas on Friday, taking its two-day worldwide total to a whopping Rs 221.05 crore gross, according to trade website Sacnilk.Ramayana, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Yash and Sai Pallavi, has joined the list of films that crossed the Rs 200-crore mark worldwide within or before two days of release. These include Pathaan, RRR, Pushpa 2, Jailer 2 and Dhurandhar 2.Back home, Ramayana continued to draw the bulk of its collections from the Hindi market, with Day 2 alone contributing Rs 35.50 crore nett from 19,859 shows. The Kannada version added Rs 5.15 crore, followed by Telugu with Rs 4.75 crore, Tamil with Rs 1.50 crore and Malayalam with Rs 1.15 crore from 446 shows on Friday. After two days, Ramayana: Part I has earned Rs 134.80 crore gross in India, with nett collections standing at Rs 112.90 crore.Ramayana, which has placed considerable emphasis on international markets, with the makers pitching the film overseas as India's "history, truth", has received a strong response abroad, with collections almost matching its domestic performance. The film has grossed Rs 86.25 crore from international markets in two days, a promising sign as the festive window has only just begun. The film has also broken the pre-Diwali box office jinx, particularly for Hindi releases. Several trade analysts had expressed apprehension about its release ahead of Diwali, as the biggest festive boost at the box office is usually witnessed after the celebrations. This is when family audiences, having completed their puja rituals and festivities, begin looking for opportunities to step out and celebrate together.Ramayana eyes Rs 500 crore for the Diwali weekendRamayana: Rise of a Legend is now eyeing the Rs 500-crore worldwide gross benchmark by the end of the weekend. The film has already demonstrated its box office potential amid largely positive reviews. It remains to be seen how the Diwali festivities shape its box office performance in the coming days. Produced by Namit Malhotra's Prime Focus and Yash's Monster Mind Creations, the film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Goddess Sita, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman and Yash as Ravana. The ensemble cast also includes Lara Dutta, Rakul Preet, Vivek Oberoi, Kajal Aggarwal, Saurabh Sachdeva, Adinath Kothare, Arun Govil, Indira Krishnan, Anupam Kher, Kunal Kapoor and Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman.Ramayana: Part I hit theatres on November 5.- Ends