Does Shamshera’s debacle affect the release strategy and buzz of Ranbir Kapoor’s upcoming film, Brahmastra? Trade experts share their views

By Fenil Seta -

July 30, 2022 - 12:00 PM IST

Ranbir Kapoor’s next film, Brahmastra, will be releasing 1 ½ month from now. This big-budget film carries strong buzz due to the superhero element, VFX, pairing with wife Alia Bhatt and the super-hit song ‘Kesariya’. However, will Shamshera’s debacle affect the release strategy and buzz of Brahmastra?

Does Shamshera’s debacle affect the release strategy and buzz of Ranbir Kapoor’s upcoming film, Brahmastra? Trade experts share their views

None of the trade experts feels that Brahmastra is in a spot. Trade veteran Taran Adarsh said, “Brahmastra is a different film. Of course, one would invariably talk about it after the debacle of Shamshera. I guess we’ll have to wait and watch how that film fares. Eventually, the film does the talking, irrespective of the cast. In the case of Shamshera, you had the best of making stars, production house etc. The actors promoted it extensively. Yet, it’s a complete disaster.”

Girish Johar, producer and film business analyst, agreed, “Each film is different. The buzz remains intact for Brahmastra.”

Trade analyst Atul Mohan opined, “You can’t compare Shamshera and Brahmastra. Had Shamshera been a big hit, there would have been immense pressure on Brahmastra to do bigger numbers. The makers of both the filmmakers might be sharing good relations but somewhere everyone hopes that ‘meri film ka dhanda dusri film se zyada hona chahiye’. Brahmastra is now free of that pressure. The film took time but then it had to be delayed due to the two years of the pandemic. Also, it has a stellar cast.”

Film exhibitor and distributor Akshay Rathi in agreement added, “The audience judges each film on its own merit. We have had enough scenarios where superstars had films that underperformed and immediately, their next film was a blockbuster. For example, Salman delivered Tubelight (2017) followed by Tiger Zinda Hai (2017). So I am sure that it can happen to Ranbir Kapoor as well. What will define where Brahmastra goes is its merits and demerits. I truly hope the film is great. It’s been made on a large canvas. It’s intended to cater to the widest possible audience and I hope it can achieve that. The film has indeed taken forever to be made. However, Ayan Mukerji has done a good job as a storyteller in his previous films. Wake Up Sid underperformed at the box office but nobody can deny that it was a tale well told. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, meanwhile, was a smash hit. Here’s a filmmaker who has the craft and nuance to tell stories well. If he can do that with a large-scale film like Brahmastra, then the sky is the limit.”

Akshaye Rathi signed off by remarking, “The intent with which Aditya Chopra, Karan Malhotra and Aditya Chopra made this film, which is to cater to the mass, I hope the underperformance of this film doesn’t discourage them from attempting it all over again. If a Besharam can fail for Ranbir Kapoor, so can a Bombay Velvet. So it’s not about mass films failing or class films working. It’s about films that are engaging for the audience, irrespective of how wide a net it casts. So the philosophy with which Ranbir has entered the arena, which is to cater to the country at large rather than to the metros, I hope he sticks to that and keeps attempting it over and again. After all, he’s one of the last few true blue superstars that we have in this country.”

Also Read: Ayan Mukerji explains the mystical universe of Brahmastra: ‘No one has done what we are doing with ancient Indian inspiration in the modern world’