Karan Johar’s Brahmastra to release on 9 September

NEW DELHI: Karan Johar’s much delayed superhero franchise Brahmastra has finally locked in 9 September 2022 as the release date for its first instalment. The Ayan Mukerhi-directed flick stars Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt in lead roles and is part of a trilogy. These will be dubbed in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada apart from Hindi. The films will also be available in 3D.

To be sure, Bollywood has realised the value of large-scale movie franchises that are inspired by Hollywood and its age-old franchises like those in the Marvel Universe.

Netflix will bring out a web series on war epic movie franchise Baahubali, which has been converted into an animated series Baahubali: The Lost Legends on Amazon Prime Video.

Reliance Entertainment, co-producer of Ajay Devgn’s action film series Singham has Little Singham, an animation series on Discovery TV. Filmmakers realise that audiences are looking at going to theatres only for something which is tent-pole and larger-than-life.

This will be Ranbir Kapoor’s first release in over four years after biographical drama Sanju in 2018.

He started his career with tragic romance Saawariya in 2007 directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and then appeared in a series of hits, Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), Wake Up Sid (2009), Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahaani (2009) and Rajneeti (2010).

Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar (2011) marked a turning point in his career, which he soon followed up with romantic comedy Barfi! (2012) directed by Anurag Basu, a critical and commercial success that saw him play a deaf and mute man.

Kapoor reunited with Mukerji for the romantic comedy Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani co-starring Deepika Padukone in 2013, after which he saw a spate of box office failures including Besharam, Bombay Velvet and Jagga Jasoos, that he also co-produced. A moderate hit, Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, also released in between.