Brahmāstra Takes The Box Office By Storm
Fun fact: It’s one of the most expensive Bollywood films to date
Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva is Bollywood’s latest production in a long spate of releases in the past few months. Starring newly-married Bollywood sweethearts Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor in the lead roles, the film has been the talk of the town since the beginning of it’s promotions leading up to it’s release on September 9.
Since dropping on the box office, the fantasy-adventure-action mish-mash has been performing exceptionally well on the local and international scene, seemingly defying the somewhat mixed reviews it received from the critics.
According to Mint, it raked up one of the highest collections for a Hindi film on a weekday. The weekend earnings surpassed the ‘100 Crore Rupees’ mark, a badge of honour for films in Bollywood. The movie also made it’s mark internationally, taking the top spot at the Global Box Office over the weekend.
Director Ayan Mukerji of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani fame took to his Instagram page to express his gratitude for the love his film received in it’s opening run. “The feeling is only of Gratitude, and more Gratitude – for our Audiences! ❤️?. The Acceptance from Audiences – is the only reward we work for at the movies,” he wrote within the caption of one of the posts.
Statistics for the film look promising so far but the massive budget means that it still has a long way to go before it recovers the cost, produced on a whopping budget of 51 million dollars. One of the most expensive Indian films to ever be made, the movie is taking motion graphics and VFX technology usage in the Indian film industry to the next level.
Clearly, all the buzz around it makes sense, but this isn’t the only reason. The stellar cast, also including big names like Amitabh Bachchan and popular South Indian actor Nagarjuna, features Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor as the protagonists. The pair has come to become the Internet’s favourite celebrity couple and besides their recent dreamy nuptials, their pregnancy announcement and Alia’s stunning maternity fashion for the press junket has netizens excited about the film.
The positive reception of this latest release may prove to be the turning point for Bollywood this year. The industry has seen a series of low earnings, with weighty productions failing to attract audiences and performing poorly in cinemas. With soaring collections for Brahmāstra, it just might kickstart a revival process for the industry.
Lead Image Courtesy/ @ayan_mukerji on Instagram