Has Bollywood Got Its Groove Back?

The success of Brahmastra is a source of both relief and optimism for cinemas

- Suhani Singh

ON SEPTEMBER 9, BRAHMASTRA: PART ONE-SHIVA earned itself a place in history. With first-day collections of Rs 31 crore for Hindi, it recorded the biggest opening for a Bollywood film since the pandemic. Seeing that it wasn't a holiday release, the feat seemed all the more impressive. Made on an estimated budget of Rs 410 crore, the Ayan Mukerji-directed fantasy action film had by day four grossed Rs 118.5 crore for Hindi, with another Rs 15.50 crore coming in from the southern states, thanks to director S.S. Rajamouli leading its publicity campaign there.

Brahmastra is now on course to dislodge Dangal as the highest-earning Hindi film in the South. Seen objectively, it's a great showing for a film, which for two weeks was subjected to a boycott campaign. Worse still, it also opened to mixed reviews. Though most critics praised the movie's visual effects, they were left underwhelmed by its storyline. The numbers suggest that impervious audiences were happily wowed by the action spectacle, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in a cameo. Even though it remains to be seen if the film's producers will recover their huge costs, they do have worldwide collections to look forward to, as also the sale of satellite and streaming rights.