Brahmastra: 4 years, Rs 300 crore budget. Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt’s film shoulders immense expectation

Brahmastra: Part 1, which is the first installment of the planned trilogy, has been talked about for the longest time in Bollywood. It brings back the hit pairing of director Ayan Mukerji and Ranbir, after delivering blockbusters Wake Up Sid and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. With Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan and Telugu star Nagarjuna rounding off the cast, Brahmastra has been eyed by the fans across India. The over three-minute trailer clip released on YouTube was packed with impressive VFX shots. They were also an indication of the film’s grand scale. Brahmastra has been in the making since 2018, and got delayed several times during the pandemic. Much has changed in four years and it will be witnessed whether the team’s vision matches the expectations.

4 Year making period of Brahmastra 

Once a highly anticipated film, Brahmastra was on the verge of being forgotten several times over. But Ranbir and Alia’s association with the project has kept the buzz going. They were rumoured to have started dating as the movie went on the floors and since then have even got married. In this time period, Ranbir’s Sanju became a major hit, earning Rs 300 crore plus at the box office. The film’s market success catapulted the actor into the big leagues. Alia has also delivered hits like Raazi, Gully Boy and most recently Gangubai Kathiawadi. A question that many must be wondering is whether or not the film can further solidify the star pairing’s position at the box office. 

Read: Kangana Ranaut’s Dhaakad to Akshay Kumar’s Bachchhan Paandey: 7 Biggest FLOPS in 2022 yet

By any standard, four years is a long time spent into the making but the team has insisted that they would not stop short in bringing a Hollywood-level film experience to the Indian audiences. As the pressure of performing at the box office grows by the minute, its making period will come into question.     

Trailer reaction to Brahmastra 

After the movie trailer premiered, fans were busy debating what the fate of the film would turn out to be. With SS Rajamouli directing visually stunning films like Baahubali and RRR, many fans compared the VFX of both Brahmastra and such movies made in the South. However, Ranbir and Alia are the soul of the film and that element has been retained and comes forth even in how the trailer is edited. Many on social media said the lead pair looks nice in romantic montage shots. 

Read: Brahmastra’s Ranbir Kapoor vs Marvel Superheroes: Fair to compare Bollywood film with Hollywood? 

Mega budget for the movie

Brahmastra is said to cost Rs 300 crore or more. Ayan Mukerji had reiterated time and again that he had the full support of the producers and that his vision has not been diluted by closing his hands when it came to expenditure. It also has one of the highest budgets for a film made in 2022. In the recent past, Samrat Prithviraj, 83, Bachchhan Paandey and several others had high expectations and a huge budget but could not perform well at the box office, costing the makers huge loss. Brahmastra’s legacy will be calculated as per its box office performance first and foremost and how much profit it turns over.  Meanwhile, the benchmarks for Indian action films this year have been set by K.G.F: Chapter 2 and RRR which conquered the worldwide box office.

Alia and Ranbir’s 4-year commitment to Brahmastra

The cast has shown immense faith in the film and has stuck around for such a long duration of production. Apart from Ranbir, Alia too has invested this time in making sure the project does not derail in any manner. In ways, this is a passion project not just for Ayan, but for the lead stars as well. It will not be unfair to assume that the paycheques would have ballooned up in these years and still both the makers and the cast have stuck by each other’s sides like a rock. 

“We were just three best friends, Alia and I, sitting and dreaming this film with Ayan, and being soldiers to him,” said Ranbir in an interview. “We were really excited and really privileged to be part of this film and part of this vision so selfishly as an actor that I would do it over and over again.”

Now the tours will start to raise the hype surrounding the release. Such commitment from the actors will demand a payoff. 

Brahmastra is set to release on September 9 in Telegu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.