With production running since 2018, Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmāstra has spent a long time on the stove. However, with a September 2022 date slated for release, Bollywood fans are perking up again.
Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions released a first look motion poster yesterday evening – giving fans a glimpse at Ranbir Kapoor’s lead character, Shiva.
Here’s how it looks:
The teaser starts off with some pretty impressive-looking CGI – waves of energy making their way through the skies, weaving across a night landscape.
This is set to an orchestral theme with sanskrit chants, along with a voiceover dialogue between Shiva and Alia Bhatt’s character, Isha.
“There is something going on beyond our understanding,” he tells her. “There are some ancient powers, ancient weapons.”
Finally, the CGI effects make their way towards the hero. Shiva seems immobilized under a large object at the edge of a cliff, while what looks like a woman (presumably Isha), runs towards him.
What Does Shiva Look Like?
As far as character concepts go, Shiva is fairly straightforward – the motion poster shows him standing in a white shirt and jeans, as he manifests a flaming trident.
As we zoom out from a fire within Shiva’s eyes, he raises and settles the trident at his feet – and a massive state of the Hindu deity Shiva comes into form behind him. Whether this is just thematic or part of Shiva’s superpowers is yet to be seen.
At an event in Delhi this Wednesday, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and director Ayan Mukerji revealed the motion poster, taking time for press questions.
Ranbir Takes Center Stage
“I remember, when we were shooting the last schedule of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, this genius friend of mine (Ayan Mukerji) narrated just the basic idea of a young man born with a great power, which he doesn’t understand fully. The power of fire,” Ranbir said, adding that since then the journey of creating and bringing the film for the audience has been “a lot of hard work, sacrifices and pain.”
However, Ranbir learned a lesson from the years of wait and hard work. “It taught me something very important that we have to hold on to faith. Because beyond all the pain, hard work and sacrifice is something good. This is fucking good,” he said, addressing the audience.
Ranbir seems to have taken up the project in serious earnest – going on to address early criticisms of the production and taking a moment to remember his father Rishi Kapoor- who passed away last April.
“I miss my father terribly today,” said Ranbir, adding that Rishi Kapoor had warned him that no one will watch a VFX film. “I remember during the making of the film, he kept fighting with Ayan and me, and kept questioning – ‘What are you doing? Who takes so long to make a film? Who spends so much of money? You are not making a penny on this film. VFX film kaun dekhega. No one will watch it,” Ranbir remembered.
“I hope he is proud. He is smiling,” he concluded, before reciting a famous dialogue from his father’s 1980 hit, Karz.
Alia and Ranbir Get Cute
After addressing his father, Ranbir called co-star and current girlfriend, Alia Bhatt onstage. Brahmastra will be their first film together.
In their latest public appearance, the couple gave their audience a few laughs over some light banter between each other.
As the event continued, Ranbir asked Alia about how she’s feeling – always a good thing to do in a relationship. “It’s too much,” she replied. “I am extremely emotional. It’s overwhelming and exciting!”
Ranbir then joked, “But why are you emotional? You are not even on the poster yet.” Alia made a show of mocked surprise, before quipping, “Because you are on the poster, baby, of course, I’ll be emotional.”
Naturally, a fan used the closing Q&A session to ask Ranbir, “When will you marry Alia, or someone else?”
Ranbir’s reply was pretty hilarious. “Haven’t we seen a lot of people getting married in the last one year? I think we should be happy with that,” he said, referencing the several celeb weddings that Bollywood saw in 2021.
He’s still Ranbir Kapoor, after all. The actor turned to Alia, and added, “Humari kab hogi?”
Leaving Alia blushing, Ranbir quipped that he was actually asking Ayan. The Wake Up Sid filmmaker dodged the question, saying, “Aaj ke liye ek hi date kaafi hai, Brahmastra ki release date.”
Fan Expectations
For the record, he’s referring to September 9th, 2022. With a fairly long wait ahead, we’re excited to see other character reveals – when it comes to India’s first serious superhero trilogy, expectations are pretty high.
Fans took to Twitter with pretty mixed reactions. Some enjoyed the sneak-peek at Shiva, praising the film’s scale, concept, and ambition.
Meanwhile, others felt that the reveal seemed fan-made and unappealing.
Even others were left skeptical of Ranbir and Alia’s onstage pairing, flagging it off as a PR stunt. While Bollywood isn’t free from such incidents, we think it’s a little mean – come on.
Whatever the case, it’s certainly an important film and one of the most ambitious projects Bollywood has ever seen.
Will we be seeing more surrounding co-stars Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy, and Nagarjuna Akkineni? We certainly hope so in the months ahead.
(Image Sources: Filmfare, Dharma Productions)
