After the coronavirus pandemic, Bollywood lost its grip on the box office. Although South Indian movies have been hitting the cinema halls one after another, Bollywood has not been able to regain its footing properly, even after a year and a half of the COVID-19 Pandemic. It has not been able to put a smile on the faces of the hall owners. After the ‘Boycott Bollywood Gang’ became active, famous actors like Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan also failed to shake the box office.
Just then, like a cool rain that washed away the scorching heat of box office failure, a much-awaited movie arrived in Bollywood as a blessing. Its name is Brahmastra. Filmmakers created this unique movie style by blending Bollywood’s traditional romantic formulas and mythological stories with modern technology, reviving the golden era of Bollywood cinema.
Today’s discussion is about some unknown aspects of ‘Brahmastra’, one of the most successful Bollywood films of this year, made with thousands of stunning VFX shots.
Story Idea
The idea for the film Brahmastra came to the mind of film director Ayan Mukerji in 2011, when he was writing the script for the film ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’. After creating a rough plot in his imagination, he initially named the film ‘Dragon’. Since the story of playing with fire has returned again and again, that is why this name was given. But as time passed, more and more new ideas came to Ayan Mukerji’s mind, and he wanted to make the story more complex. So he brought the mythological story of Sanatan Dharma.
It can be said that the original plot of the movie was inspired by this Indian myth. He announced the production of this film in 2014. In 2017, he officially started working on this movie in collaboration with producer Karan Johar’s production company Dharma Productions. That is, it took exactly eleven years from the time this plot was arranged to the time the movie was shown on celluloid.
Rumi vs Shiva
Ayan Mukherjee initially wanted to base the character of Shiva, the lead actor in the film, on the world-famous 13th-century Persian theologian, Islamic figure, Sufi saint, and poet Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi. He was particularly inspired by his famous quote, ‘Love is the bridge between you and everything’. That is why, initially, Ranbir Kapoor‘s name was Rumi instead of Shiva. Accordingly, Ranbir had to keep his hair long. But due to various reasons besides the fact that the film is based on Hindu mythology, the character’s name was changed from Rumi to Shiva.
Nagarjuna’s Return
Popular South actor Nagarjuna Akkineni has played the role of Ajay Vashisht in the movie Brahmastra. With this movie, Nagarjuna has returned to Bollywood after almost two decades. Nagarjuna made his Bollywood debut in 1990 with Ram Gopal Varma’s film ‘Shiva’. After that, he also acted in popular Bollywood movies like ‘Criminal’ and ‘Drohi’. Nagarjuna’s last Bollywood movie was in 2003. This movie of the historical war genre was called ‘LOC Kargil’.
When Ayan Mukerji approached Nagarjuna in 2018 with the offer of the role, Nagarjuna had a condition that he would not play the role if he did not like the story of the film. In order to convince him, the director presented Nagarjuna with a graphic novel based on the story of the film. Nagarjuna liked it and gave the green signal.
The Chosen One
The story of the movie focuses on Shiva as the ‘Chosen One’ or ‘Saviour’. That is why Ayan Mukerji has followed the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings franchise the most in making Brahmastra. Because both Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings appear as saviours. Therefore, if you look deeply, you can find many similarities between Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings in the entire movie.
Swades Movie Easter Egg
Filmmakers used Shah Rukh Khan’s cameo as scientist Mohan Bhargava as a central theme to make the movie more engaging, and Khan Saheb’s swift rise to the centre of on‑screen discussion deserves special praise. He has increased the glamour of the movie right from the beginning. With the strong potential for future success, Ayan Mukerji has hinted that he will present the character of Mohan Bhargava in front of the audience on a larger scale. The filmmakers will release a separate spin‑off movie within the Brahmastra universe that focuses solely on the character of scientist Mohan Bhargava.
In Ashutosh Gowariker’s 2004 film Swadesh, Shah Rukh Khan portrayed the character Mohan Bhargava. In that movie, too, he was a scientist. About Ayan Mukerji, Ashutosh Gowariker’s brother-in-law. Ayan entered the world of directing by joining the movie ‘Swadesh’ as an assistant director. Who would have thought that Ayan Mukerji would make the highest budget movie in the history of India before reaching the age of forty! It can be said that he gave a small tribute to Swadesh cinema through Mohan Bhargava.
Pre-production
The pre-production work (concept and scripting) of the film began in 2014. But its main filming, i.e., principal photography, began in 2018. Passive to Active Sentence Rewriter. In July 2019, 20 days of shooting began at Ramnagar Fort and Seth Singh Fort in Banaras.
During the COVID‑19 pandemic, the production team halted work for an extended period. They originally planned to release the film on Christmas 2019, but various complications forced them to postpone it to mid‑August 2019 for Independence Day. When that date slipped, they rescheduled for Christmas 2019. Afterwards, they set new release dates for summer 2020 and then December 4, 2020, but the pandemic prevented each of those launches. On March 29, 2022, Alia Bhatt posted on her verified Instagram account that Brahmastra Part One has completed shooting. The film was released 6 months later, on September 9, 2022.
VFX
The talk of the Brahmastra movie will often mention its great VFX shots. There is no exact information available about how much of the total budget was spent on VFX. However, an article in Hindustan Times says that the amount spent on VFX is around 100 crore Indian rupees. The VFX work of the movie has been handled by the DNEG company. It is worth mentioning that DNEG has provided VFX in popular movies like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Blade Runner 2049, Interstellar, Dune, Inception, Dunkirk, and The Dark Knight Rises. Around 4,500 VFX shots have been used in this movie, which is 2,000 more than Avengers: Endgame.
Rajamouli’s involvement
Brahmastra was a pan-Indian project. The production team halted work for an extended period during the COVID‑19 pandemic. They had initially slated the film for release on Christmas Day 2019, but complications pushed it up to mid‑August 2019, aiming for Independence Day. When that proved unworkable, they reset the date back to Christmas 2019. Later, they eyed summer 2020 and then December 4, 2020—but the pandemic thwarted each of those plans. Veteran Telugu actor Chiranjeevi provided the narration voice for the Telugu version.
Brahmastra at Kumbh Mela
Alongside releasing the movie’s first look, the filmmakers displayed the Brahmastra symbol in the sky at the 2019 Kumbh Mela for pujas and worship. For this, the Brahmastra team used a total of 150 drones.
Astraverse
Ayan Mukerji wants to create a separate universe based on the concept of the Brahmastra movie. This universe has been named ‘Astraverse’. He wants to make the Brahmastra movie a trilogy. The filmmakers titled the first instalment Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva and scheduled Brahmastra: Part Two – Dev for release in 2025. They haven’t yet decided on a title for the third part.. According to Ayan Mukerji, he will be busy with the Astraverse for the next ten years. He is moving forward following the plan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Therefore, various television series, spin-off movies, games, etc., will come as part of the Astraverse in the coming years.
Box office
This year, when several highly anticipated Bollywood films failed at the box office, many were sceptical about this film. But Brahmastra has continued to storm the box office, leaving the critics in awe. According to reports, the budget of the film is around Rs 410 crore. However, after Ranbir Kapoor opened up, some things have come to light. He said,
Behind the Scenes Secrets
The total budget is not just for one film, but for the entire Brahmastra trilogy. The production team can reuse the high‑budget VFX assets—such as fire effects, other superpowers, and weapon visuals—in the remaining two films as well. Ayan has learned how to make such films from the first part. Now we can easily make Part 2 and Part 3.
Brahmastra opened with a bumper opening of Rs 36 crore in India. The film pocketed Rs 120.75 crore at the end of its opening weekend. The first and second weeks ended with Rs 169 crore and Rs 222.30 crore, respectively. After seven weeks, Brahmastra’s lifetime collection in India stood at Rs 257.44 crore. The film earned its highest lifetime collection on its third day of release, Rs 43.25 crore. The three highest-grossing regions in terms of regional collection were Mumbai (51.81 crore), Delhi (47.44 crore), and Punjab (20 crore). The gross collection at the Indian box office was Rs 306.48 crore, and the worldwide gross collection was Rs 419 crore. According to many film trade analysts, one of the reasons for the success of this film at the box office was National Cinema Day. On that day, tickets were available for just Rs 75. As a result, ticket sales increased by about 25% in the third week. They reduced the ticket price to Rs 100 on the occasion of Navratri. Many have claimed that this also made a profit.
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