'Fans Demanded Mirzapur The Movie'

'We thought if we made the show, people could get into it.'

The Mirzapur universe just got its big screen upgrade.

To make the announcement, the familiar faces of Mirzapur -- Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu, Rasika Dugal, Shweta Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Sheeba Chaddha -- assembled with some new faces like Jitendra Kumar and Sonal Chauhan, to launch Mirzapur The Movie.

This is a rather unusual jump for Mirzapur, which began as a streaming show in 2018 and went on to become one of India's biggest OTT successes. At the launch event, co-producer Farhan Akhtar credited Writer Puneet Krishna and Director Gurmmeet Singh for expanding the story to the big screen.

"When Puneet first came to us, our first instinct was to take him to a psychiatrist," he joked. "Then we thought if we made the show, people could get into it. Guru and Puneet are the heroes of the show."

Farhan made it clear that none of this would have happened without the love of the audience. He recalled being asked about Mirzapur everywhere he travelled.

"Wherever I went, people used to ask me when Mirzapur was coming. So it is really the fans that have demanded this movie. We are very happy and grateful to have put it together with the original cast and the amazing new cast."

• Also Read: Watch the Mirzapur The Movie Trailer Launch Live

Mirzapur The Movie Promises More Chaos

The evening did not begin with the trailer right away. Instead, the characters were brought back one by one.

There was Kaleen Bhaiya. There was Guddu Pandit. There was Munna Bhaiya. Golu.

Jitendra Kumar's presence got its own moment as did Ravi Kishan's new character. The introductions worked almost like a reminder of why this franchise became such a phenomenon in the first place.

That love was impossible to miss at the event.

Fans began chanting "Kaleen Bhaiya zindabaad!" as Pankaj Tripathi appeared on stage.

Ali Fazal's Guddu Pandit looked like he is ready to go to war again. The actor described the film as a "big experiment", saying it brings a "new flavour" to the Mirzapur world.

Divyenndu's return is easily one of the biggest talking points around Mirzapur The Movie. His character had become one of the most loved and quoted parts of the original show, and his character's eventual death had triggered fans to run #BringMunnaBack on social media.

He got the loudest cheers at the launch event, and as he stepped on the stage, he quickly turned the moment into a joke: "Hindi filM ke hero hain hum... hum amar hain!"

And then came the trailer. The reaction was immediate.

WATCH: Divyenndu shares his excitement about Mirzapur The Movie

Pankaj Tripathi As Kaleen Bhaiya Returns

It has the guns, swagger, blood, revenge and a tadka of dark humour that's unmistakable about Mirzapur. The story still seems to revolve around power and the Gaddi, but the canvas has clearly grown.

There is also a very interesting hook.

Jitendra Kumar appears as Bablu Pandit. Yes, Bablu. The character, playing by Vikrant Massey in the series, was killed in the first season. This makes the film less of a straightforward continuation and more of a new chapter inside a familiar timeline.

The trailer brings in Ravi Kishan, who looks like he could be a major source of trouble. His character gets both action and humorous moments because a Mirzapur trailer without a few wicked one-liners would almost feel incomplete.

Shweta Tripathi's Golu Gupta also makes an impression.

She is not merely there as a familiar face from the series. The trailer suggests that Golu remains an important part of Guddu's world and the larger power struggle. The female characters, including Rasika Dugal's Beena as Kaleen Bhaiya's scheming wife, are also woven into the chaos.

'Gaddi hai toh hum hain,' the makers had teased earlier. And the trailer continues that idea.

Everyone wants the Gaddi.

Everyone thinks they deserve it.

And everyone is willing to go too far for it.

As the film is set for big screen outing, there's definitely a promise of bigger action and bigger bhaukaal (swagger).

WATCH: Why is Pankaj Tripathi telling the audience to keep quiet?

There was, however, one noticeable bummer.

There was no media interaction at the launch event.

For an event packed with actors and makers, that felt like a missed opportunity.

There were so many obvious questions waiting to be asked. How does it feel to take Mirzapur to theatres? What made the makers choose this particular story? How did they bring Munna and Bablu back into the narrative? What does Farhan Akhtar think about Mirzapur's streaming-to-theatre experiment? Why the makers are aiming to release this film in Telugu besides Hindi?

Sadly, those questions stayed unanswered.

WATCH: Shweta Tripathi's 'anti-violence' stand

Mirzapur: The Movie arrives in cinemas on September 4.