Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal’s poster are finding a life of their own online, with fans turning their excitement into everything from room decor to street-level celebrations.
There's a new film people seem to be having a little too much fun with online. Love & War, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming film with Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, has been rolling out its posters one by one, and the reactions have gone well beyond the usual likes and comments.
The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film has already begun showing its hand but some of its posters have already become objects of fandom rather than just promotional material. And some fans are taking that quite seriously.
A Ranbir Kapoor fan, for instance, decided that having the actor's Love & War poster on a phone screen wasn't enough and put it up across a wall at home. Somewhere else, Alia Bhatt's latest look ended up on a cushion that became part of a fan's everyday surroundings. In Bihar, an auto driver found his own way of joining the conversation around Alia's poster, using a local announcement style setup to celebrate the actor's look.
None of this is particularly unusual for Bollywood fandom. What is interesting is how quickly the film's promotional material has started becoming part of fan-made culture.
Ranbir's first look probably had the easiest route into the conversation. His return to Sanjay Leela Bhansali, almost two decades after Saawariya, gave people an obvious reason to be excited. The poster quickly made its way across social media, with fans creating edits, AI recreations and their own versions of the look.
Then Alia arrived and changed the mood completely.
Her first look, with its cabaret-inspired styling, had a very different flavour from Ranbir's gritty avatar. The retro glamour and dramatic styling gave fans a new side of Alia to react to, and the poster quickly became another talking point across social media
Vicky Kaushal's posters have added their own bit of mystery. His two posters don't exactly give audiences the same man. One presents him as rougher and more intimidating, while the other is noticeably softer. Whether that difference is a clue to the story or simply Bhansali playing with his audience is something the film will eventually answer.
For now, the posters seem to have a life of their own. Fans are turning them into edits, recreations and, in some cases, things they can actually keep around at home.
THat is perhaps what makes the Love & War chatter interesting. The conversation isn't being driven only by interviews or promotional appearances. The looks themselves are giving fans enough to play with, react to and make their own.
Of course, the poster will eventually make way for the trailer, songs and other promotional material. But until then, Love & War is already giving its audience plenty to talk about, and plenty of ways to join in.
