Brahmastra release date: When and where to watch Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt's fantasy drama on OTT after its theatrical run

Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, which will hit the screens on September 9, is all set to stream on Disney+Hotstar, once it completes the theatrical run. Directed by Ayan Mukerji, this one marks the beginning of a trilogy as well as what’s billed as India’s first original cinematic universe. Ranbir Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Mouni Roy and Nagarjuna Akkineni star.

Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, produced by Fox Star Studios, Dharma Productions, Prime Focus, and Starlight Pictures, will be available in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. It ranks among the most costly Bollywood productions ever.

Mukerji is perhaps best known internationally for the 2013 musical romance Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, a big hit at home and abroad. This new universe, dubbed the Astraverse, is inspired by ancient India and spiritual Indian mythology.

The setup involves a secret society, the Brahmaansh, who, generation after generation, have protected many divine “Astras” (weapons) that were created in ancient India, and safe-guarded from the eyes of the world. The most powerful and the most deadly amongst these divine weapons, the Brahmastra, is now waking up and threatens to destroy the universe we know today.

Part one of the planned trilogy centres on Shiva (Kapoor), a young man on the brink of an epic love story with Isha (Bhatt). But their world is turned upside down when Shiva learns he has a mysterious connection to the Brahmaastra and a great power within him that he doesn’t understand just yet — the power of fire. The story follows Shiva as he journeys into the world of Astras and discovers his destiny as the Divine Hero of the universe.

The audiences are now very much eager to find out what Brahmastra Part One: Shiva has in store for them.

The high-on-VFX movie will soon surpass Rs 10 crore in advance sales, which is unheard of lately, claims industry expert Sumit Kadel. He noted that most prominent Hindi films haven't cracked the double digits on opening day, something Brahmastra Part One: Shiva would do with just advance purchases.

In an interview, Mukerji said, "It has been 10 years since my last film. I have forgotten who I was as a person before. This is one of the longer pregnancies that a director can have with a movie. I will understand a lot once we deliver the project. But this was the kind of project that needed (time).”

Given that such movies require enormous budgets, the fantasy adventure genre is one of Bollywood's most underutilised and dangerous ones, but Mukerji said his passion for the genre and mythology drove him to take on the task.

“I loved stories from Indian myth while growing up and I loved Western fantasy fiction, which I would read a lot, like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I wanted to do the same thing but I wanted to draw from what existed in India and what I understood and felt all my life. There was a great opportunity because nobody had done that before, maybe because of us not being that comfortable with working with technology, not having the budget.”