Mumbai: It would have been a star-studded Christmas at the Bollywood box office this year with a clash between Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer "Brahmastra" and Salman Khan's "Dabangg 3". But the makers of "Brahmastra" have shifted its release date to summer 2020.
Just a day after Salman announced that "Dabangg 3", the third instalment of his popular "Dabangg" franchise, will hit the screens on December 20 this year, "Brahmastra" writer-director Ayan Mukerji revealed that the audience will have to wait a bit longer to watch his ambitious fantasy film.
Mukerji, in an Instagram post on Saturday, said the decision was being taken to get everything about the film "right".
He wrote: "When we broke the logo of 'Brahmastra' at the Kumbh, we were excited that the end of that road was in sight Christmas 2019, the date we announced for the release of the movie. But in the past week, I have learnt that all the teams working on the movie, led by my VFX teams, need more time in order to get the VFX right, to get the sound and music right, and eventually to get the film right.
"With that in mind, we are moving away from Christmas 2019 as our goal for the release of our movie. Working towards that goal could affect the most important goal, which is to create the best possible movie experience that 'Brahmastra' can be.
"Our release date is now slated for Summer 2020, but we will announce this officially once we are absolutely certain of the date."
The movie will be the first of a trilogy being produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.
It's a passion project for Mukerji, who began working on the "dream" in 2011.
"That dream is about creating a movie that offers our country something that is really new and amazing and next level. In terms of story, characters and emotions, but also in terms of visual effects. It has been a long road trying to achieve this vision," he wrote.
"I believe that the extra time going into making the movie is essential to achieve the dream of 'Brahmastra', and I really hope that we make up for the delay by giving our movie-loving country something they can love and feel proud of. Back to film work now, so much to do...," he added.