Editor's Choice
Ramayana & Love and War Take Centre Stage as Ranbir Moves On
Ramayana & Love and War Take Centre Stage as Ranbir Moves On
Studio CarryOnHarry Entertainment Desk | 26 July 2026
Ranbir Kapoor has officially put the brakes on persistent speculation linking him to Dhoom 4. Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con, the Bollywood A-lister made it clear that the franchise rumours have no basis, redirecting attention to his two massive upcoming projects — Ramayana and Love & War. For more of Bollywood’s top stories, stay connected with our entertainment desk.
Ranbir Kapoor Denies Dhoom 4 at Comic-Con
When quizzed about whispers of him headlining the next chapter of Yash Raj Films’ beloved action franchise, Ranbir was unequivocal. He stated simply that right now his plate is full — and Dhoom 4 is not on it.
Rumours of Ranbir joining the Dhoom universe have swirled for several years, fuelled by the franchise’s tradition of introducing a new lead villain with each instalment. However, Yash Raj Films has made no official announcement regarding any new Dhoom project, and Ranbir’s denial appears to draw a firm line under the speculation.
What Is Ranbir Actually Working On?
Rather than dwelling on what he is not doing, Ranbir highlighted two landmark productions currently occupying his time and energy.
Ramayana
The epic mythological saga has been one of the most anticipated Indian film projects in recent memory. Ranbir is set to portray Lord Ram in this grand production, which promises to be a cinematic event of unprecedented scale for Hindi cinema.
Love & War
Directed by the visionary Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Love & War is confirmed for a March 20, 2026 theatrical release — timed to coincide with Ram Navami festivities. The film is widely expected to be one of Bhansali’s most ambitious productions to date.
Animal Park — The Silence Speaks Volumes
Notably, Ranbir made no mention of Animal Park, the highly anticipated sequel to his blockbuster Animal (2023), during his Comic-Con appearance. Whether that signals a shift in priorities or simply reflects where production currently stands remains to be seen. Fans and trade watchers are keeping a close eye on any developments surrounding that project.
Critics’ Perspective
Trade analysts see Ranbir’s public denial as a calculated and savvy move. With two marquee productions already on his slate, attaching himself to further franchise speculation could dilute audience anticipation. Critics note that by steering the conversation firmly toward Ramayana and Love & War, Ranbir is consolidating his image as a prestige performer rather than an action franchise player. According to entertainment industry coverage, this kind of brand management is increasingly common among top-tier Bollywood talent navigating multiple tentpole projects simultaneously.
- Dhoom 4: Denied by Ranbir Kapoor — no YRF confirmation
- Ramayana: In production — Ranbir as Lord Ram
- Love & War: Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali — releasing March 20, 2026
- Animal Park: No update offered at Comic-Con
– Entertainment Desk, Studio Carry On Harry
Background & Timeline
The Dhoom franchise, produced by Yash Raj Films, has delivered three instalments since 2004 — each featuring a new lead antagonist alongside series regulars. Speculation about Ranbir Kapoor joining the franchise as a villain or lead has circulated since at least 2019. Meanwhile, Ranbir’s career has evolved significantly, with Animal (2023) becoming one of Bollywood’s highest-grossing films. His casting as Lord Ram in Ramayana was confirmed in 2023, marking a defining chapter in his career trajectory.
Critics’ Perspective
Trade analysts and film critics largely view Ranbir’s Comic-Con statement as a shrewd piece of personal brand management. With Ramayana and Love & War already representing two of the most high-stakes releases in recent Bollywood history, industry observers argue that adding Dhoom 4 to the conversation would only create unnecessary noise. Critics note that Ranbir is carefully positioning himself as a prestige cinema force, steering well clear of franchise speculation that could distract from his current landmark commitments.
What’s Next?
Watch for an official trailer release for Love & War as its March 20, 2026 date approaches, and keep an eye on any Ramayana production updates. The big question now is whether Yash Raj Films will formally announce a Dhoom 4 lead — and whether Animal Park gets a release window confirmed before year’s end.
Editor’s Verdict
Ranbir Kapoor appearing at San Diego Comic-Con to address Bollywood rumours is itself the real story here — it signals how deliberately his team is managing his global positioning. Shutting down Dhoom 4 speculation isn’t just a denial; it’s a statement of artistic intent. With Ramayana and a Bhansali film on his slate simultaneously, he is arguably carrying more prestige weight than any Hindi film actor right now, and the last thing that narrative needs is franchise noise clouding it. The silence around Animal Park is equally telling — sometimes what a star chooses not to say in a room full of cameras is the most strategic communication of all. Beyond the headlines, when an actor at this level starts curating his silence as carefully as his announcements, the industry usually takes notice before the audience does.
Studio Ki Raye
Ranbir ka yeh Comic-Con appearance sirf rumour denial nahi tha — yeh ek carefully orchestrated brand positioning thi. Dhoom franchise mein villain ka role, chahe kitna bhi iconic ho, ultimately ek supporting arc hota hai — aur Ramayana mein Lord Ram ke baad aap villain kaise khelo bina perception damage ke? Timing bilkul sahi hai. Jo cheez zyada interesting hai woh Animal Park ka complete silence hai — agar sequel on track hota, toh Ranbir zaroor kuch hint dete. Yeh khamoshi suggest karti hai ki project abhi bhi settle nahi hua hai, ya deliberately back-burner par hai. Bhansali aur Ramayana — dono prestige territory hai. Ranbir apni filmography ko reinvent kar rahe hain, action star se mythological-prestige performer ki taraf.
Enjoyed this story? Follow Studio CarryOnHarry at carryonharry.com · Sources cross-checked via livenewsvault.com · 👍 Facebook · X · 📢 Share this story
—
Related Posts
How The Odyssey Pushed Nolan Into Cinema’s Billion-Dollar Elite
How The Odyssey Pushed Nolan Into Cinema's Billion-Dollar Elite Studio CarryOnHarry Entertainment Desk | 13 October 2026 The Odyssey Rewrites…
Bollywood Loses a Titan: Patekar Dies, State Funeral Confirmed
Director Anees Bazmee breaks silence on Nana Patekar's death, calling it unbearable. Read the full story on India's cinema legend's…
Bollywood’s Most Famous Couch Gets a Final Curtain Call
One of Hindi cinema's most iconic small-screen institutions is preparing to take its final bow. Karan Johar has officially confirmed…
Bollywood’s ‘What If’ Moment: Pop Queen Recalls Nearly Landing a Legendary Film Role
One of India's most celebrated pop voices has opened up about a surprising chapter in her early career — a…
John Abraham’s Force Turns 15: A Tribute to the Director He Still Misses
John Abraham's Force Turns 15: A Tribute to the Director He Still Misses Studio CarryOnHarry Entertainment Desk | 30 September…
Week 7 and Still Counting: How Hanuman Ansh Broke the Mould
Week 7 and Still Counting: How Hanuman Ansh Broke the Mould Studio CarryOnHarry Entertainment Desk | 22 September 2026 A…
Editor's Choice
Audiences Are Rating ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and ‘Resident Evil’ Among 2026’s Hottest Films
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Two 2026 releases, "Resident Evil" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," are tied at the top of Rotten Tomatoes’ running Verified Hot list, each pulling in more than 5,000 Verified ratings from ticket-buying audiences, according to the site’s latest update.
Just as Certified Fresh represents critics’ consensus via the Tomatometer, Verified Hot is its audience equivalent, requiring a minimum 90% score on the Popcornmeter using ratings exclusively from Fandango ticket buyers, according to the guide. Rotten Tomatoes introduced the badge to give paying audiences their own equivalent stamp of approval, separate from critical consensus.
Behind the two leaders in the largest-sample tier, "The Odyssey" ranks second with over 5,000 Verified ratings, followed by "Project Hail Mary," "Obsession," "Hoppers" and "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." Several of these titles also turn up on other year-end and mid-year lists tracking 2026’s most-discussed films, including "The Odyssey," "Project Hail Mary" and "Obsession" among the movies cited as generating the most audience conversation this year.
In the next tier, covering films with 1,000 to 5,000 Verified ratings, "Avengers: Endgame," "Heart of the Beast," "Forgotten Island" and "Practical Magic 2" share the top spot, with "Coyote vs. Acme," "The Invite," a musical performance film featuring Stray Kids and others filling out the rest of the ranking. Rotten Tomatoes notes a third, smaller tier of 250 to 999 ratings exists for titles still building an audience track record, which it describes as newer and more niche releases.
New films earning a 90% Popcornmeter score are added weekly, with placement within each tier based on cumulative Verified rating volume.
Studio CarryOnHarry will be watching whether films lower in the 1,000-to-5,000 tier gain enough ratings to crack the top bracket as the list updates through the rest of 2026.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
Press Releases at Studio CarryOnHarry
Related Posts
Revisiting Octavia Butler’s “Wild Seed,” the 1980 novel that opens her Patternist series
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk Octavia E. Butler's "Wild Seed," released in 1980, remains one of the author's most widely…
How The Odyssey Pushed Nolan Into Cinema’s Billion-Dollar Elite
How The Odyssey Pushed Nolan Into Cinema's Billion-Dollar Elite Studio CarryOnHarry Entertainment Desk | 13 October 2026 The Odyssey Rewrites…
Hema Malini Turns 78: The Actress Who Played Twins and Won Only Once for It
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk Hema Malini turns 78 on 16 October 2026, having been born on the same date…
Bollywood Loses a Titan: Patekar Dies, State Funeral Confirmed
Director Anees Bazmee breaks silence on Nana Patekar's death, calling it unbearable. Read the full story on India's cinema legend's…
CSIFF26 Showcases Diverse Caribbean Voices Through Six Nominated Films This October
Conch Shell International Film Festival returns to Queens October 9-11 with six Best Film nominees exploring Caribbean and diaspora filmmaking.
AFI Movie Club Celebrates Tod Browning’s ‘Dracula’ as a Landmark of Horror Cinema
AFI Movie Club spotlights Tod Browning's 1931 'Dracula' starring Bela Lugosi, the film that launched Universal's Monster franchise and defined…
Editor's Choice
Revisiting Octavia Butler’s “Wild Seed,” the 1980 novel that opens her Patternist series
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Octavia E. Butler’s "Wild Seed," released in 1980, remains one of the author’s most widely read novels decades after its release. It opens Butler’s five-book Patternist cycle, a five-book speculative fiction cycle, and continues to draw new readers and critical attention.
Butler, who died in 2006, is widely regarded as one of the first Black women to gain major recognition in American science fiction, a genre that offered her few peers when she began publishing in the 1970s. Her work is frequently cited within Afrofuturism, the broader cultural movement that uses speculative fiction, technology, and alternate histories to explore the experiences of the African diaspora and to imagine Black futures beyond the constraints of the present.
"Wild Seed" is addresses themes of gender, healing roles, and the experiences of Black women, reflecting the novel’s focus on characters navigating power, transformation, and survival across generations. Readers and reviewers have consistently described it as a character-driven work rather than a plot-heavy one, with its two central figures carrying the novel through sustained psychological and emotional depth. The book is the first in the five-volume Patternist series and has drawn an active readership on platforms like Goodreads, where it holds a strong average rating from tens of thousands of readers.
The novel has also found renewed life in reading groups and community discussions in recent years, often paired with other Afrofuturist or speculative work, a sign of Butler’s lasting pull on readers well outside the genre’s traditional audience.
Studio CarryOnHarry sees "Wild Seed" as a useful entry point for readers curious about Butler’s influence on contemporary speculative fiction, and worth a look for anyone building out an Afrofuturism reading list.
About the Author: An American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field.
[Comment by Tricia Sullivan, on The Guardian][1]:
Octavia E Butler (1947–2006)
> I was teaching in New York when I came across Octavia E Butler’s Kindred in a secondary-school catalogue of novels recommended to support diversity. It caught my attention because Butler was described as a science-fiction writer. I thought I was familiar with science fiction, but I’d never heard of her – nor have a great many other readers, I suspect. For many years, Butler was the sole African-Ameri
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
Are you an author with a new release? We’re always looking for books to cover and authors to interview — tell us about yours here.
Press Releases at Studio CarryOnHarry
Harry Johal — Entertainment Editor
Harry Johal is the Entertainment Editor at Studio CarryOnHarry, overseeing the newsroom's day-to-day coverage.
Related Posts
Audiences Are Rating ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and ‘Resident Evil’ Among 2026’s Hottest Films
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk Two 2026 releases, "Resident Evil" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," are tied at the top…
How The Odyssey Pushed Nolan Into Cinema’s Billion-Dollar Elite
How The Odyssey Pushed Nolan Into Cinema's Billion-Dollar Elite Studio CarryOnHarry Entertainment Desk | 13 October 2026 The Odyssey Rewrites…
Hema Malini Turns 78: The Actress Who Played Twins and Won Only Once for It
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk Hema Malini turns 78 on 16 October 2026, having been born on the same date…
Bollywood Loses a Titan: Patekar Dies, State Funeral Confirmed
Director Anees Bazmee breaks silence on Nana Patekar's death, calling it unbearable. Read the full story on India's cinema legend's…
CSIFF26 Showcases Diverse Caribbean Voices Through Six Nominated Films This October
Conch Shell International Film Festival returns to Queens October 9-11 with six Best Film nominees exploring Caribbean and diaspora filmmaking.
AFI Movie Club Celebrates Tod Browning’s ‘Dracula’ as a Landmark of Horror Cinema
AFI Movie Club spotlights Tod Browning's 1931 'Dracula' starring Bela Lugosi, the film that launched Universal's Monster franchise and defined…
-
Books5 days agoNew Book Pairs Coloring Pages With Genesis Story for Bible Study Groups
-
Books5 days agoBenjamin German’s New Collection, ‘The Pen of Ben,’ Explores Love Through Life’s Small Moments
-
Books5 days agoBenjamin German’s New Collection, “The Pen of Ben,” Blends Poetry and Prose on Love and Loss
-
Books4 days agoChildren’s Book “My Dog Hank” Tells a Family’s Story Through a Kid’s-Eye View of Their Dog
-
Books6 days agoYvonne Joy’s New Novel Follows a Retired Headmaster’s Illness and a Community’s Path to a Nature Retreat
-
Books5 days agoNew Illustrated Book Pairs Genesis Narrative With Coloring Pages for Bible Study Groups