Karan Johar’s ambitious science-fiction extravaganza Brahmastra featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt is in serious financial trouble. The estimated budget of the film has escalated to nearly Rs 300 crores. Apparently, the actors have taken a pay cut to enable a smooth completion of the project that has become the elephant in the boudoir for its producer.
A report claimed the producers Fox Star Studios and Dharma Productions, have approached insurance companies with five large claims that accumulated to over Rs 50 crores. The report was vehemently denied by Karan when I asked him about it.
But the fact is Brahmastra needs serious financial bailing-out. Only a miracle can help the project recover its colossal budget.
Could the Alia-Ranbir marriage be that miracle that could save Brahmastra? The film is slated for release on 9 September 2022, just months after the Ranbir-Alia wedding. The Brahmastra team feels the audience would be eager to see the freshly-married couple together on screen for the first time.
They cite the example of Mani Ratnam’s Guru which benefited tremendously when its release coincided with the film’s leading lady Aishwarya Rai’s marriage with its leading man Abhishek Bachchan. However, the optimistic assumptions linking the wedding to the fate of the film could easily backfire.
Several sagacious sources in the Hindi film industry are of the belief that real-life couples are anathema as on-screen pairs. John Abraham-Bipasha featured in flop films like Madhoshi, Aetbaar and No Smoking. Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan have delivered duds together, like Kurbaan, Agent Vinod and Tashan.
Brahmastra is unlikely to ride the goodwill wave after the marriage of the year. It is akin to expecting crowds who cheer during a political campaign to actually cast their votes. What Brahmastra needs is more than goodwill. At the moment it is the most expensive film that Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions has ever produced. The original plan of a three-film Brahmastra franchise has been scrapped.
Everybody associated with the film is praying that Alia Bhatt’s lucky streak at the box office—she has been a part of 12 hit films in 10 years of her career—will see Brahmastra through.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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