Alia Bhatt on negative reactions to Brahmastra: ‘Jo box office pe aag lagayi hai…’

Brahmastra has surely broken the curse that was upon Bollywood but while the film is enjoying its box office run, it is also facing some criticism. The film’s dialogues have become a part of many memes, and many have also pointed out that Alia Bhatt’s character did not have much to do in the film. Amid the criticism, the team of the film – actors Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and director Ayan Mukerji – was recently in Ahmedabad for promotions and here, Alia spoke about handling the negative reactions.
Alia spoke in Hindi as she spoke about focusing on the positives instead of the negatives. “Yeh jo life hai, humari yeh life hai aur life hai yeh pata nahi hai par yeh life hai, toh humare paas 2 options hain ki ya toh aap positive bano ya positive pe focus karo ya toh aap negative pe focus karo. Aur haal hi mein, jab koi bhi negative question puchta hai hum genuinely ek consensus ke saath bolte hain ki humara dimag udhar jaa hi nahi raha hai (This life, we don’t know if there is another life or not, but we have this life. We have 2 options, we can either be positive and focus on that or be negative. And recently, whenever anyone asks us a negative question, we genuinely want to say with all of our consensus that we are not thinking about it).”

Alia added that the audience has the right to criticise but she hopes that the positives outweigh the negatives. “Criticism, opinion, feedback, that is the audience’s right. Toh jo aap reviews bol rahe ho unka right hai, unka ek opinion hai. Humara bas yahi hope hai ki jo positive hai voh zyada ho aur negative hai voh kam ho. Jo film release hone ke baad aisa lag raha hai ki positive hi zyada hai varna jo box office pe aag lagayi hai voh hota nahi (So the reviews that you are talking about, that is their opinion. We just hope that the positives are more than the negatives. After the release of the film, it looks like it is more on the positive side otherwise it would not have done so well at the box office).”
In an earlier chat with , Ayan Mukerji spoke about the criticism that Alia was underutilised in the film. He said, “In some ways, her incredible acting chops has almost become something that some people are seeing as it is getting in the way of fully appreciating her. But again, I am waiting for this (film) to spread far and wide in the country. I still think there will be a lot of acceptance for her, playing this positive, happy girl in the film. But, noted. In part two we will do more with Alia.”
The director said that Brahmastra Part Two: Dev could release December 2025.