The first look of Ranbir Kapoor from Sanjay Leela Bhansali's much-anticipated period drama Love & War was unveiled on Thursday, giving audiences an early taste of a film that has already travelled a long and delayed road to the screen. The poster presents Kapoor in a rugged, stylised avatar: sporting a moustache, wearing dark shades and gripping the wheel of a blue car, with a bloodied hand hanging out through the door. The image is designed to suggest both menace and magnetism, fitting neatly into Bhansali's trademark world of heightened emotion, visual grandeur and larger-than-life characters.
Sharing the poster, the makers wrote, "Woh rutba, woh raub, woh junoon! Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Love & War on 21st January 2027. See you at the movies!" The line, heavy with swagger and intensity, appears to position the film as a sweeping romance shaped by conflict, power and passion. While the poster reveals little about the plot, it reinforces the sense that Bhansali is once again building a cinematic universe where style and emotional excess are central to the storytelling.
Love & War has been billed as a period romance set against the backdrop of war, a combination that places it squarely in the director's long-standing fascination with love tested by historical and personal upheaval. The film brings together Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal in a high-profile ensemble that has drawn attention since the project was first announced. For Vicky Kaushal, it marks his first collaboration with Bhansali, a significant pairing given the filmmaker's reputation for extracting intense performances from his leads. For Kapoor, the film marks a reunion with Bhansali after 19 years, since his big-screen debut in Saawariya in 2007. Bhatt, meanwhile, returns for her second collaboration with the director after Gangubai Kathiawadi in 2022.
The release of the first look also underscores how long the project has been in development. Love & War was first announced in January 2024 with a Christmas 2025 release in mind. That date was later moved to March 2026 before being pushed again to the current theatrical release date of January 21, 2027. Such postponements are not unusual for large-scale Bhansali productions, which are often mounted with elaborate sets, detailed costumes and a strong emphasis on visual precision. Still, the repeated delays have only heightened curiosity around the film and the scale of its eventual presentation.
The poster arrives at a moment when Kapoor remains one of Hindi cinema's most closely watched stars. He is next expected to appear in Ramayana, the mythological epic directed by Nitesh Tiwari and slated for a Diwali release. That film, which also stars Sai Pallavi, Sunny Deol and Yash in pivotal roles, adds another major title to Kapoor's upcoming slate and keeps him at the centre of some of the industry's biggest tentpole projects.
For Bhatt, Love & War comes after her last on-screen appearance in Alpha, which was released in July and reportedly underperformed at the box office. The new film therefore offers her another major opportunity in a prestige project with strong commercial and critical expectations attached. With Bhansali at the helm, the cast assembled, and the first look now out in public, Love & War is beginning to take shape as one of the most closely watched Indian films on the horizon.
More details from the film are still awaited, but the first poster has already done what such reveals are meant to do: sharpen anticipation, fuel speculation and remind audiences that when Bhansali stages a love story, it rarely arrives quietly.