India, Nov. 4 -- It may be the biggest Indian film ever, getting the widest release in Indian cinema history, but alas, Ramayana is not on course to set the biggest opening for an Indian film. In fact, if the current trends hold, it may not even break into the top five biggest openings by Indian films. Despite this, Ramayana is on course for a massive start at the box office, just not as big as a film of this scale would have warranted.

Advance bookings for Ramayana began globally on Dussehra, 15 days before the film's wide release. There was an early push, and overseas pre-sales took off immediately, but in India, ticket booking hit a roadblock. There was disagreement between the exhibitors and the film's distributors over revenue shari...