Is Brahmastra Bollywood’s saviour?

Bollywood industry is desperate for that one big hit to lift it up from a terrible year so far. Post-pandemic times are not turning out to be Bollywood’s swansong as film after film have been failing at the Box Office, including ones starring Bollywood A-listers. The tried and tested formulae are not working any more as the audience’s taste has evolved during the two years of the pandemic, having tasted a delectable fare from across the world on OTT platforms.

An all-out commercial film, ‘Bhool Bhulaiya 2’, the hard-hitting ‘The Kashmir Files’, and biopic ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ have so far seen full house in cinema halls. Most of the other films that were massive hits include South Indian films dubbed in Hindi, among other languages – ‘RRR’, ‘Pushpa - The Beginning’, ‘KGF Chapter 2’, ‘Karthikeya 2’, ‘Vikram’, among others.

Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt-starrer ‘Brahmastra’ was being looked at as some kind of a saviour of Bollywood, a movie that would bring the confidence back in Bollywood. And going by the Box Office collections of the first weekend of the film, which trade analysts peg at over Rs 100 crore, it can be safely said that ‘Brahmastra’ is the much needed hit that Bollywood was looking for.

The movie offers a grand spectacle – state-of-the-art VFX, a story rooted in India’s rich mythological culture, and the lead pair of Ranbir and Alia, who are appearing together for the first time on the big screen. The fantasy film is best enjoyed on the big screen and that is drawing the crowds to movie halls. So far, grand spectacles have proved to be big crowd pullers – be it ‘RRR’, ‘Pushpa’, ‘KGF’ and before that ‘Baahubali 1 and 2’.

Apart from the lead pair, ‘Brahmastra’ stars Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna, Mouni Roy and Shahrukh Khan (in an interesting cameo).

Revealing the ancient world of ‘Astraverse’, ‘Brahmastra’, said to be the most powerful weapon of all, reveals the journey of discovery of Shiva.

Director Ayan Mukherjee had earlier revealed that the film will be a triology, so we can look forward to two more chapters of ‘Brahmastra’.

So far, the homegrown superhero movie genre has not done well in Bollywood – Hrithik Roshan-starrer ‘Krishh’ could be a rare exception.

Will ‘Brahmastra’ break the mould? And more importantly, will ‘Brahmastra’ be able to revive Bollywood’s fortunes? It’s an interesting wait and watch.