Bramhastra: The Never Ending Postponement

by Ankita Sehgal Freelance Blogger, Lives in New Delhi

Bollywood never stops rolling out tons of gossip, even in a lockdown! With much uncertainty about the future of films and their stars, here are some of the latest Bollywood news so that you do not miss out on any new updates!

The Ayan Mukerji directed film Brahmastra has been in the making for a short time now, and therefore the budget of the Ranbir Kapoor – Alia Bhatt starrer has been spiraling. In fact, makers of the film Dharma Productions are grappling with things trying to curb costs. However, the word on the street is that Brahmastra might just be delayed even further. If that wasn’t all, we also hear that the allow the Karan Johar production has spiraled out of control with the Coronavirus pandemic stalling things. Given the present lockdown situation and therefore the long await the film to hit screens, the budget seems to be escalated.

Commenting on the development a source close to the film says, “Currently there are about 40 more days of shoot left and given the lockdown situation, it does not look like the shoot will start any time soon. Given this delay thus far, the budget of Brahmastra has overshot by a good margin. The movie is high on VFX and a serious chunk of VFX remains pending which incorporates the things shot with Shah Rukh Khan at a studio in Mumbai, and the plot that unfolds in Manali and Varanasi.”

Prod the source for details and he continues, “As of now, Karan is looking to re-work the economics of the film. The members of the film’s cast also as directors, viz. Ayan Mukherji, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, conscious of the bottom realities, have voluntarily decided to require a salary cut to form the project viable. In lieu of the diminished pay, Dharma Productions is contemplating offering them a profit share within the film’s success. However, details of the same have not yet been worked out.”

Given the present situation of lockdown thanks to the Coronavirus and therefore the incontrovertible fact that it'll still take a couple of months to urge things back on target , Brahmastra seems to be precariously perched. Bollywood news suggests that the film will most probably miss its proposed release date of 4 December 2020. A release before June 2021 seems unlikely.

This has also caused issues with Alia Bhatt’s shooting dates. She is among the major A-lister from Bollywood who has four films on the floors in various stages of production. And all of them demand her immediate attention.