Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (; stylized as BRAHMĀSTRA) is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language fantasy action adventure film written and directed by Ayan Mukerji. The film is the first installment of a planned trilogy, which is itself planned to be part of a cinematic universe titled Āstraverse, and stars an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Mouni Roy and Nagarjuna with Shah Rukh Khan in a special appearance. This is the first film of real-life couple Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt together. Drawing inspiration from tales in Hindu mythology, the story follows Shiva, an orphaned musician with pyrokinetic powers who discovers that he is an astra, a weapon of enormous energy. He attempts to prevent the strongest of the astras, the Brahmāstra, from falling into the hands of dark forces that share a history with him.
The film was first conceived by Mukerji in 2011, with core elements inspired by Indian history and stories he heard in his childhood. Its development was first revealed in July 2014 with a planned release for 2016, but its official announcement arrived in October 2017 revealing that the film would be titled Brahmāstra and would be a trilogy. Principal photography lasted from February 2018 to March 2022, with filming locations including Bulgaria, London, New York City, Edinburgh, Thailand, Manali, Mumbai and Varanasi.* Production and release of the film were delayed multiple times, first due to monetary constraints, and later due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film's songs are composed by Pritam, with soundtrack lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.
Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva was theatrically released on 9 September 2022 by Star Studios. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise towards cast performances (particularly Kapoor, Bhatt, Bachchan, Roy and Nagarjuna), action sequences, visual effects, scale, music, ambition and Khan's special appearance, though criticism was directed towards the dialogues, screenplay, characterization, and storyline. It emerged as the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2022 and the sixth highest-grossing Indian film of 2022. Both circumquel and sequel are in development. Initially planned for a Christmas 2026 and Christmas 2027 release, respectively, production of both films has been deferred due to developmental delays and scheduling conflicts of both the lead actors, specifically Kapoor's.
Plot In ancient India, sages in the Himalayas encounter the energy Brahm-shakti, which creates powerful celestial weapons called astras. The strongest, the Brahmāstra, can destroy the world. The sages use their astras to control it and form the Brahmansh, a secret society dedicated to protecting the world from their power.
In present-day Mumbai, Shiva, a DJ, falls in love with Isha Chatterjee, a London resident visiting India for the Durga Puja festival at her grandfather's pandal. Isha reciprocates, and Shiva tells her that he is an orphan who never knew his father and whose mother died in a fire when he was a baby. Meanwhile, in Delhi, Brahmānsh member and scientist Mohan Bhargav is attacked by Zor and Raftar, who seek the piece of the Brahmāstra he protects. Mohan uses the Vānarāstra to fight back, but Junoon, serving the mysterious evil Dev, subdues him using the Vash Mukut. Under Junoon's control, Mohan reveals that the second piece is protected in Varanasi by artist and archaeologist Anish Shetty. Before revealing the location of the Brahmānsh headquarters (Ashram) and its guru, Mohan kills himself by jumping from a balcony.
Shiva has a vision of Mohan's confrontation with Junoon and discovers that he is connected to a piece of the Agneyāstra. He and Isha travel to Varanasi to warn Anish, but Raftar attacks them with the Vānarāstra. Anish defeats him with the Nandi Āstra and escapes with Shiva and Isha. While travelling towards Himachal Pradesh, where Ashram is located, they are pursued by Junoon and Zor. Anish gives Shiva the second piece of the Brahmāstra and stays behind to fight their pursuers, but is killed. Shiva and Isha continue to Ashram, pursued by Raftar. When Raftar attempts to kill Isha, Shiva uses his fire powers to kill him.
At Ashram, Shiva learns about the astras and is persuaded by guru Raghu to join the Brahmansh in exchange for information about his parents. He meets fellow recruits Rani, Raveena, Sher and Tenzing, and trains to control his powers, eventually mastering fire. As Junoon approaches, Raghu reveals that Shiva is the son of former Brahmansh members Dev and Amrita. Dev awakened the Brahmāstra, having the unique ability to control multiple astras. His pregnant wife Amrita, wielder of the Jalāstra, defeated him in battle on a remote island, where both seemingly perished. Amrita's boat was recovered from the ruins with two broken pieces of the Brahmāstra, which were entrusted to Mohan and Anish. The third piece was believed missing, leading Raghu and Shiva to conclude that Dev and Amrita had survived.
The third piece is hidden within Amrita's Mayāstra, disguised as a conch shell. Raghu releases it by placing Shiva's blood on the shell. Junoon and her forces then attack Ashram and take everyone hostage. Shiva defeats Junoon and kills Zor, who now wields Anish's Nandi Āstra, freeing the hostages. However, Junoon takes the third piece from Isha and seemingly sacrifices herself to activate the Brahmāstra. As it begins destroying the world and Isha is endangered, Shiva's love and determination to protect her allow him to control the weapon. He reunites with Isha as the destruction is halted.
In the post credits scene, Junoon's activation of the Brahmāstra frees Dev, who had been imprisoned as a statue on an unknown island.
Cast
Production Development The idea of Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva first came to Mukerji in 2011 while writing the script for his second film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013). Mukerji first announced that he was working on a new project in July 2014. In October 2017, Brahmāstra was officially announced by producer Karan Johar. Mukerji was signed as the director while Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Amitabh Bachchan were set to star. Initially, the film's working title was Dragon, but was officially titled as Brahmāstra in 2017. Mukerji explained that the title Brahmāstra "resonates with the ancient wisdom, energies and power." Mukerji also revealed that it is a "contemporary film with ancient elements." In 2017, Johar revealed his plan to make the film into a film trilogy. The preparation for the film started in January 2018.
In an interview, Kapoor stated that Mukerji "has spent six years of his life working really hard to make an original story" and that the trilogy would be made over a period of 10 years and refuted rumours suggesting that it is a romantic superhero film. Instead, Kapoor confirmed that the film is a "romantic fairytale in a supernatural format" and that the film is not something which "doesn't have truth to it, or which is unbelievable". Telugu film actor Nagarjuna also confirmed that he would be playing a "pivotal" role and it marked his return to Hindi cinema after 19 years, following his appearance in 2003 film LOC: Kargil. Mouni Roy revealed in an interview that she is the "only antagonist" in the film.
In June 2022, Mukerji announced the film would be a part of a trilogy franchiseserving as the first instalmentunder the Astraverse, a cinematic universe centred around various mystical astras. In August 2022, Roy confirmed Shah Rukh Khan had a cameo appearance in the film. Khan reprises his character from the film Swades (2004).
Pre-production Mukerji started work 9 years before the theatrical release. Pre-production work started in 2014 and filming began in 2018. In February 2018, Bachchan and Kapoor did look tests in the presence of Mukerji.
Themes In July 2022, a video was released featuring Mukerji explaining the mystical universe of various astras. He explained how from the Brahm-Shakti, astras were born, which compose all the different energies that are found in nature like Jalāstra (water), Pawanāstra (wind), and Agnyastra (fire). He also talked about astras that store the powers of different animals like the Vanarāstra, which can give the power of a "divine" monkey to the person who controls it, and the Nandiāstra, which contains the power and strength of a thousand bulls, within itself. The last āstra to emerge from the universe, carrying the collective power of the Brahm-Shakticalled the "lord of all the āstras"is explained to be one of the most powerful celestial weapons of gods (or Devas) in Hindu mythology, the Brahmāstra. Mukerji stated that the core idea was inspired by stories of Hindu mythology he heard in his childhood from his grandfather. Kapoor described the film as an action-adventure about a DJ named Shiva and his journey with his ladylove Isha, and finally something that leads him to his destiny which is the Brahmāstra.
Characters Mukerji revealed that the inspiration behind actor Kapoor's character came from Rumi's phrase "love is the bridge between you and everything", to build the foundation of the film. The character initially had long hair; later, he revealed that the look was scrapped and Kapoor had gotten a haircut instead. Kapoor revealed his experience with look tests for the film, expressing that it is a "tedious job: sticking, removing applying, de-applying, and applying again, until some decision is reached".
Filming Principal photography began in February 2018 with the commencement of the first schedule of the film on 24 February 2018. The first schedule of the film was wrapped up in Bulgaria on 24 March 2018. The second schedule of filming continued in said country and then London on 8 July 2018, in New York in late July, and then back in Bulgaria by the end of the month. Extensive shooting started on 1 February 2019 at Edinburgh, Scotland. The 20-day schedule started in the Ramnagar Fort and Chet Singh Fort in Varanasi on 30 July 2019. The filming was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later resumed in November 2020. Filming wrapped up on 29 March 2022 in Varanasi. After S. S. Rajamouli's father V. Vijayendra Prasad, proposed some changes in the film to Mukerji, reshoots were conducted for four days.
It was reported that the production budget for the film was , which would make it one of the most expensive Indian films and the most expensive Hindi film ever at the time of its release. However, the lead actor Ranbir Kapoor later clarified that the reported budget was for production of all three main instalments of the franchise, and the assets built during the production of the first film will be used in future instalments.
Post-production In the post-production, it is estimated that 150 crore rupees were spent on VFX by makers. The VFX work was done by DNEG – Prime focus company. Editing was supervised by Prakash Kurup. Jam8 music and sound design studio, led by Pritam, provided sound effects. DNEG and ReDefine's foreign team created visual effects. Chiranjeevi did the voice-over for the Telugu version. Ranbir and Alia dubbed for their portions in September 2020 in a studio in Bandra.
Music
Pritam composed the soundtrack while composing the background score along with Prasad Shaste, Jim Satya, Meghdeep Bose, Tanuj Tiku & Ketan Sodha, while the songs are produced and mixed by British musician Steel Banglez, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The score was recorded at Synchron Stage Vienna. The song "Rasiya" was sung by singer Tushar Joshi.. The song Kesariya was sung by singer Arijit Singh.
The film's titular soundtrack album was officially released on 6 October to streaming formats and digital retailers, coinciding with the occasion of Dussehra.
Marketing