Ranbir-Alia’s Brahmastra makes beeline for Hollywood, 20th Century Studios shares trailer and teases film’s ‘cutting-edge technology’
While Indian fans are still wondering why Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor haven’t been made the face of Brahmastra’s marketing campaign, it seems like no stone is being left unturned in promoting the film in Hollywood. While both Ranbir and director Ayan Mukerji have been interviewed Hollywood ‘trades magazines’, the film’s American dributor — the Disney-owned 20th Century Studios — on Monday shared the film’s trailer on social media, including YouTube.
While the trailer didn’t carry new footage from the film, it certainly came along with a new synopsis. “BRAHMĀSTRA – the Trilogy, is a 3-part film franchise and the beginning of India’s first original universe The Astraverse,” the synopsis reads. “It is a new original cinematic universe inspired deeply rooted concepts and tales from Indian hory but set in the modern world, with epic storytelling of fantasy, adventure, good vs evil, love and hope; all told using cutting edge technology and never-seen-before visual spectacles. BRAHMĀSTRA: PART ONE, is the story of SHIVA (Ranbir Kapoor) – a young man and our protagon, who is on the brink of an epic love, with a girl named… Isha (Alia Bhatt). But their world is turned upside down, because Shiva learns that he has a mysterious connection to the Brahmāstra… and a great power within him that he doesn’t understand just yet – the power of Fire. In this movie, we experience Shiva’s adventures as he journeys into the world of Astras and in turn, discovers his destiny as the DIVINE HERO of the universe.”
It was revealed at CinemaCon in April that Disney had slotted Brahmastra on its global slate for 2022. Brahmastra is produced Fox Star Studios, Dharma Productions, Prime Focus and Starlight Pictures, and will be released in Indian theatres in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada on September 9. This has been a particularly notable year for Indian cinema abroad, thanks to the resounding success of RRR in the US.
Indian fans flooded the comments section of the trailer, and appeared to be quite proud of the film, directed Ayan Mukerji. “The concept of this movie brings a whole new dimension to Indian cinema. If this works, more such projects will come out that will appreciate the rich mythological and cultural scopes of the Indian subcontinent. This needs to be supported,” one fan wrote. “First Bollywood movie in years that I’m actually looking forward to see. No high hopes neither any disappointments, I’ll watch it with a clear mind, let’s see how it goes and I dont want this to be Boycotted,” another fan commented.
Touted as one of Bollywood’s most expensive films of all time, Brahmastra is a CGI-heavy fantasy film that has been in the making for close to a decade. The film will arrive at a particularly difficult time not just for Bollywood films, but also Ranbir, whose last release — the period drama Shamshera — crashed and burned at the box office. It was his first film in four years. In recent days, he has also been attracting online criticism for old comments perceived as sex.
Alia, on the other hand, has had a successful 2022. She starred in Gangubai Kathiawadi, which remains one of the few box office hits that Bollywood has produced this year, and followed it up with the Netflix release Darlings. She has also made her presence felt not just in Hollywood — she will co-star alongside Gal Gadot in the upcoming Heart of Stone — but also in Europe, after premiering Gangubai at the Berlin Film Festival.
