Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s decision to skip the conventional teaser and motion poster route for his upcoming film Love & War, opting instead for an immersive promotional launch this August, offers a small case study in breaking from category norms to stand out in a crowded release calendar.
Rather than standard character posters or a teaser, the filmmaker is developing a special promotional asset intended to be audiences’ first introduction to the film’s world.
The asset is being designed as an immersive experience meant to convey the scale, mood and emotional essence of Love & War ahead of the broader marketing campaign — a deliberate bet that a single high-impact reveal can generate more attention than a conventional release cadence.
Bhansali is personally overseeing every creative element of the launch, working closely with his trusted team, a hands-on approach consistent with how he has managed marketing for his past productions.
The film brings together Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal for the first time in a single Bhansali production, a casting combination that itself functions as a built-in marketing hook.
The film is set against a contemporary military backdrop and follows two Indian Armed Forces officers played by Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal, whose rivalry drives the plot — a premise that raises the stakes for a marketing rollout meant to convey scale without giving away the story.
Anticipation for the project has grown given the individual box-office track record of its three leads, adding commercial pressure to the marketing team’s bet on an unconventional rollout.
The approach underscores a broader pattern in big-budget Indian cinema marketing: studios increasingly treat the first reveal as a standalone content event rather than a routine promotional beat.
Bhansali is known for personally supervising every stage of his films’ visual presentation, from production design to marketing, a hands-on approach reflected in the unconventional rollout planned for this project.
(Image: Photo: President’s Secretariat (GODL-India), Wikimedia Commons)