Brahmastra: Can Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt starrer beat RRR's box office numbers? Ayan Mukerji responds

Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt starrer Brahmastra, directed by filmmaker Ayan Mukerji, is one of the most-anticipated films this year. The film, which took five years to be ready for a theatrical release, will finally hit theatres on September 9. And now, months ahead of the film's release and days before the makers drop the trailer of the movie, the cast and director Ayan are in full swing to promote the upcoming flick. 

The expectations from the Ranbir-Alia starrer are high and many are even wondering if the film will be able to surpass the worldwide box office collections of KGF Chapter 2 and RRR which set new box office benchmarks earlier this year. 

READ: Brahmastra teaser: Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna's film looks facinating

In RRR, which grossed $155 million worldwide, Alia had a small yet significant role. Meanwhile, RRR director S.S. Rajamouli will be presenting the Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam language versions of Brahmastra, which will also release it its original Hindi language.

So, when Ayan Mukerji was recently asked if Brahmastra will surpass the lifetime box office collection of RRR, he Variety in an exclusive chat, "Certainly, with all humility, definitely, I think our ambition is larger than that ["RRR"] number overseas. And I hope that, as a key step with Disney coming on board, just our overseas distribution before it even crosses over to the western audience, I hope it's able to reach the subcontinent audience in the western world in a much wider fashion, so that we can actually see that return on box office numbers."

During the chat, Ayan also revealed that the basic storylines for his Astraverse Brahmastra exist and hinted that the subsequent parts of his trilogy may be made much faster. 

The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Nagarjuna Akkineni and Mouni Roy.

Based on Indian mythology, the film is set in contemporary India, where a secret society called the Brahmansh has guarded 'Astras' created in ancient India for generations. The most powerful among these, the Brahmastra, is now waking up and it threatens to destroy the universe.

Constructed as a trilogy, which is part of an 'Astraverse' created by Mukerji, the first part follows the protagonist Shiva (Kapoor), who is in love with Isha (Bhatt). Their lives are changed forever when Shiva learns that he has a mysterious connection to the 'Brahmastra' and a great power within him that he doesn`t understand just yet - the power of fire, reports Variety.

(With inputs from IANS)