Release
The original English version with Sanskrit songs was worked on by teams from both countries and was screened for the first time at 24th International Film Festival of India, New Delhi, 10–20 January 1993. The film was also shown at the 1993 Vancouver International Film Festival.
The Hindi dub version was released in the late 1990s. Arun Govil, who is popularly known for playing the role of Rama in Ramayan (1987 TV series) voiced Prince Rama in the version.
This film was distributed as a work in the 40th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diplomatic Relations between Japan and India. All India Distribution was by Kamal Hassan, Rajan Lall and Shringar Films. The film was not theatrically released on a large scale as the Ram Janmabhoomi (Birthplace) Movement was at its peak and the movie embroiled in controversy. However it had a limited theatrical run in some parts of India in April 1997 and was screened in Japan at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival in on 3 November 1997 and in at Yokohama Landmark Hall in Yokohama on 10 November 1997. Later, it was released on TV channels Cartoon Network and Pogo repeatedly and DVD of this work was also sold. It was the opening film of the 2000 Lucca Animation Film Festival in Italy, a highlight of the Cardiff Animation Film Festival in the United Kingdom.
Official activity stopped after the TV broadcast in India in 2006, but the film was shown in Japan at a mini-theatre Cinema Novecento in Yokohama from 1 September 2018 to 30 September 2019 and at an event at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies on 10 January 2020, both in 35mm film was screened using.
Megumu Ishiguro, co-founder and former President of Doga Kobo Animation Studio, the Production Controller and key animator on the film, toured India in 2020 to talk to fans about the animation process and promote the remaster project, organised by AIMAP and the Japan Foundation. The tour began with a Retrospective event by Graphiti Animation for the late Ram Mohan in association with Films Division in Mumbai on February 11, 2020, and continued until February 26, with talks and exchanges in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Palanpur, Nagpur, Bengaluru, Chennai and New Delhi. Kenji Yoshii, the assistant producer for the film and a director of TEM Co., Ltd, also attended the retrospective event and declared at that time that TEM will digitally remaster and release the work again.
In December 2021, an official website was launched with an announcement that a digitally remastered version will be released.
2022 was an important year for both countries as they marked 70 years of India-Japan relations. On the occasion of the 70th Anniversary Year, the 4K digitally remastered film was launched during the 5th edition of Japanese Film Festival in India, along with 10 other films. Atsushi Matsuo, the executive producer, and Kenji Yoshii, the assistant producer met the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and informed him of the release of the digitally remastered version of the film during his visit to Japan in May 2022.
Special screenings for the 4K Ultra HD remaster were conducted in various countries:
Japanese Film Festival 2022, New Delhi (March 4–7, 2022)
70th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2022 (May 31, 2022)
Sitges Film Festival 2022, Sitges (October 6, 2022)
Animation Is Film (October 23, 2022) A major animation festival produced by GKIDS in collaboration with Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Variety in Hollywood
Japan Society, New York (January 20, 2023)
Vancouver International Film Festival 2023 (June 25–26, 2023)
ANIMIX Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel (July 15 and August 10, 2023)
Fantasia International Film Festival 2023 in Montreal, Canada (August 5, 2023)
In various Japanese cities between 2022 and 2023
2 screenings were held in London in 2023 at the central London venue of The Prince Charles Cinema, off Leicester Square of the remaster by a long-standing follower and supporter of the film, Ravi Swami, who wrote the first review of the film outside of India or Japan in the 1993 U.K publication "Anime UK", edited by Helen McCarthy, and acting as sales agent for the film via TEM.
On September 19, new Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu versions were released by Geek Pictures, with V. Vijayendra Prasad as creative director. Remastered 4K versions of both the new and original English dubs were to be screened across India but the release was postponed. Later, it was released on 24 January 2025.
