Can Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor's Brahmāstra strike gold at the south box office?

Bollywood director Ayan Mukerji’s magnum opus Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva is all set for release on September 9 in over 8000 screens making it one of the biggest Hindi releases. Starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy and Nagarjuna, this fantasy adventure flick is to be released in three parts, the first of which is titled ‘Shiva’. Mukerji’s film is being presented by SS Rajamouli in the South Indian language versions and in fact, seems to fall within Rajamouli’s genre of filmmaking. The budget of this film is reportedly Rs 410 crore making it the biggest Hindi film ever and with the backing of Fox Star Studios, Dharma Productions, Prime Focus and Starlight Pictures, it looks like this movie could set a worldwide record at the box office if all goes well.

Given that this movie has a strong mythological theme i.e. the Astraverse and the Brahmshakti or Brahmāstra (most powerful weapon of the gods), and how much the Indian audience likes films with such flavours, there is a strong buzz around the film. While most Hindi films have failed to make in-roads in south India, this year will Brahmāstra strike gold at the south box office?

The SS Rajamouli Factor

One of the most favourable aspects of this film is that it is being presented by director SS Rajamouli and the audience strongly believes that he will not back a film if it doesn’t have good content. When Rajamouli announced his collaboration with the project, he stated, “I’m truly glad to come on board and present Brahmāstra to audiences worldwide in the four south languages. The concept of Brahmāstra is unique, which reflects in its story and presentation. In many ways, it reminds me of Bahubali – a labour of love and passion. The film perfectly marries themes from ancient Indian culture with modern technology, and with cutting edge VFX that will blow your mind!”

The Culture Connect

Mythology is part of Indian culture and tradition and the makers of ‘Brahmāstra’ are betting big that it will connect to pan-Indian audiences because of this. This is Ranbir Kapoor’s first film exploring this genre and he has told the media that with so many stories in our culture, which are rich in content, entertainment, characters and value system, it was surprising that filmmakers haven’t explored them much. With serials like ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’ doing so well on television and films with shades of mythology or fantasy adventure like the recent ‘Bimbisara’ and ‘Karthikeya 2’ turning hits, the time is right for a release like ‘Brahmāstra’.

Marketing Blitz

Ranbir Kapoor, SS Rajamouli. Alia Bhatt and Ayan Mukerji, went all out to promote the film across south India – even appearing on local language TV shows – to ensure that the mass audience is aware about the film. From Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad and Chennai, the film cast and crew travelled over weeks to meet audiences and the media to create much-needed hype for any big budget film.

The effort the cast has put in to reach the local language audiences across different regions must be commended because even south heroes don’t actively promote their films so much across numerous cities. In fact, Ranbir Kapoor gave a short speech in Telugu for a press conference to impress the audience and he did not fail! He told the audience how this was the most important film in his career and was hoping to speak fluent Telugu by the time the next part comes out.

Director Ayan Mukerji, a close friend of Ranbir’s, has spent 10 years working on this film and September 9, will be the litmus test for him. Brahmāstra is releasing in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada and in all formats – standard format, 3D, IMAX 3D and 4DX 3D. The film’s trailer has got a very positive reaction in the non-Hindi speaking regions as well so right now it looks like the pan-Indian audience is looking forward to this particular flick.

Latha Srinivasan is a senior journalist based in Chennai. Her passion is entertainment, travel, and dogs.

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