‘Love & War’ Confirmed for IMAX as Bhansali Unveils Ranbir First Look

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Love & War will play in IMAX when it arrives in cinemas on January 21, 2027, marking the filmmaker’s return to the large-format circuit nine years after Padmaavat, Bollywood Hungama reported Thursday. The same day’s first-look campaign also confirms the Republic Day-week date and IMAX partnership branding on the poster, India Today reported.

The romantic drama stars Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal. Hungama said the striking poster shows Kapoor driving a blue vintage convertible in sunglasses and a moustache, with blood on his arm hinting that the title’s romance sits beside intense conflict. The words Love & War appear across the car door, the January 21, 2027 date sits at the bottom, and “Experience in IMAX” branding appears with other logos in the corner.

India Today described a second poster released hours later that keeps Kapoor in the turquoise convertible with slicked-back hair, a pencil moustache, round sunglasses and a light knit polo, his bruised left arm resting outside the car against a retro street backdrop. Makers captioned the drop with “Ishq bhi. Jung bhi,” underscoring the love-and-conflict pitch ahead of the 2027 bow.

Bhansali’s last IMAX outing was Padmaavat in 2018, released in IMAX 3D and a strong performer in the format, Hungama noted. Love & War likewise targets Republic Day week, a high-traffic holiday corridor for big-canvas Hindi releases. The filmmaker is known for opulent production design, costumes and composed frames; Hungama argued the IMAX engagement should let audiences experience that visual scale more fully.

India Today placed the project as Kapoor’s reunion with Bhansali after Saawariya (2007), the actor’s debut, with Bhansali directing and producing. The film is scheduled to release worldwide in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on the same January date, with Netflix listed as the streaming partner and IMAX among theatrical partners.

Trade attention is already high because the cast stacks three of Hindi cinema’s most bankable stars opposite a director whose recent work has mixed awards prestige with event-movie presentation. The first-look strategy — dual posters in one morning, explicit IMAX confirmation, and a locked holiday date — signals that marketing will lean on format premium and star power rather than waiting for a trailer to define the film’s tone.

For Bollywood audiences following large-format releases after recent trailer drops such as Udta Teer, the Love & War news also reframes early-2027 scheduling. A January IMAX play means premium screens will be contested not only by Hollywood franchises but by a Hindi event drama banking on Bhansali’s visual brand.

Hungama’s reporting stopped short of detailing runtime, song rollout or further cast, and India Today likewise framed Thursday’s materials as an introduction to the film’s world rather than a full plot reveal. What is locked for now is the date, the triple-lead billing, multilingual theatrical plans, Netflix’s streaming partnership, and IMAX as a confirmed exhibition path.

Exhibitors will also watch how the IMAX allotment interacts with simultaneous Hindi, Tamil and Telugu prints on a holiday weekend, when premium screens are scarce and advance bookings can spike early. Hungama’s confirmation that Padmaavat previously proved Bhansali’s titles can convert large-format curiosity into ticket sales gives Love & War a precedent, while India Today’s emphasis on Netflix as streaming partner clarifies the post-theatrical window without undercutting the January theatrical event frame.

Whether the bloodied-arm imagery foreshadows political conflict, personal rivalry, or stylized melodrama remains intentionally opaque. That ambiguity is part of the campaign’s early heat: enough iconography to trend, enough format news to matter to exhibitors, and enough star wattage to keep the January 21, 2027 slot in industry calendars long before a trailer arrives.

As Bhansali returns to IMAX and Kapoor returns to his first director, Love & War enters the 2027 conversation as both a holiday tentpole bet and a prestige-scale romance whose premium-screen strategy is now part of the public pitch.