Ayan Mukerji was 'angry' at Ranbir Kapoor for delaying Brahmastra: 'He chose to start Sanju first'

Ayan Mukerji said he started working on Brahmastra in 2014 itself, and was angry when Ranbir Kapoor decided to film Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju instead of prepping for Brahmastra.

The trailer of Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor's film Brahmastra was released on Wednesday after a long wait. The movie was in the works for a long time, with the filming itself taking more than five years. Filmmaker Ayan Mukerji has now revealed that one of the delays in making the film was caused by Ranbir himself, for which he felt angry at the actor.

A picture of Ayan Mukerji, Alia Bhatt, and Ranbir Kapoor from Brahmastra sets.

Brahmastra will mark Ayan Mukerji's third consecutive movie that has starred Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role, after Wake Up Sid and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Ayan had started pre-production of Brahmastra in 2014, a year after the release of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, but Ranbir delayed his preparation for the film for his 2018 release Sanju. The biopic on actor Sanjay Dutt by Rajkumar Hirani also marked Ranbir's last on-screen appearance.

Ayan recently spoke about the almost nine years he has spent on Brahmastra. He told ETimes, "When I started the prep for Brahmastra, Ranbir was offered Sanju. He was supposed to start prep with me, but he chose to start Sanju first. I was so angry. I was happy that he was working with Raju Hirani but what about my project?"

However, Ayan added that he now realises Ranbir took the right decision by prioritising Sanju. He said, "But in hindsight, I'm glad Ranbir chose to work on Sanju because, a few years later, Sanju was shot, edited, and ready for release and my pre-production hadn't even completed. Had Ranbir waited for me, it would've been too long a wait."