Review: Brahmastra (2022)
With Amar Chitra Katha-type storytelling and Marvel world-building, Brahmastra, the 10-year-long vision, imagination, and sweat of filmmaker Ayan Mukherjee delves into a rich world of magic and mysticism. His home-grown superhero fantasy is a three-part trilogy, that stars Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt in lead roles in the first part.
Brahmastra starts on a high note, immediately throwing us into the world with a superstar cameo by Shah Rukh Khan and an exposition in the voice of the wonderful orator Amitabh Bachchan. We learn about how three bad guys are chasing the three arms of the stone Brahmastra. There exists a Brahmansh, or protectors of these stones, of which Bachchan is a ‘Guru’ (more like an Avengers and Nick Fury protecting Infinity stones)
The story of the film follows Shiva, a small-town orphan boy who discovers he is an Astra. Just like Harry Potter, he is left without his mother and with magical powers. Typical to every Hollywood film, this film too makes use of the Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell. Shiva, who gets visions about the Astras, has to undertake a journey to protect the Brahmastra and make sure it reaches the ashram, where he finds his powers and in an ultimate showdown defeats the evil force of Junoon played by the maleficent Mouni Roy.
Mukerjee infuses religiosity with modern trends and thinking. He infuses the transformative power of love through light throughout the film. Shiva falls in love with Isha (another name for Parvati) at a Dussehra fair. Interestingly, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt also fell in love for the first time at the time of Dussehra in Dharma Productions’ Kalank.
In Brahmastra, Shiva sees Isha at a Dusserah fair and falls instantly in love. In Kalank, also by Dharma Productions, the same love ignites at the same setting between the characters Rooh and Zafar.
A few days after the trailer had been released, I posted a tweet about the film, commenting on its visual effects, production design, cast, and background music – all of which are fabulous in their own way.
The visual effects, for an Indian film on this scale, are quite exemplary. This film is a visual treat and there is no denying it. Nagarjun’s transformation to the Nandi Astra, Shah Rukh’s to the Vanarastra - they were just phenomenal. I loved Kapoor’s training montage in Deva Deva and how Ayan used special effects to bring forth his power and the power of love. My favorite part was also when an arrow becomes three green snakes in the ultimate showdown. Towards the end, however, I thought the special effects got a little too stretched.
The background score, composed by Pritam, despite the ‘love storiyaan’ (although it has grown on me), will easily transport you into the world of Shiva and Isha. The film, which took years to make was shot by five cinematographers: V. Manikandan, Pankaj Kumar, Sudeep Chatterjee, Vikash Nowlakha, and Patrick Duroux. Despite these changes, the visual grammar and appeal of the film stay the same.
I also would have loved a glimpse of Dev and Amrita (according to rumors, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone are said to be playing the characters in part two). The makers had the chance right there to build up curiosity, but I guess we’ll have to wait.
The fatal banality of the film lies in its highly underwritten characters and dialogues, written by Hussain Dalal.
Isha, played by Alia Bhatt is a girl from London who plays a damsel-in-distress. Despite her calibre in films like Highway, Udta Punjab, to a more recently Darlings, she exists merely to enable Shiva’s origins. (The writers call her a ‘button’ to turn Shiva’s powers on). It also seems that other than calling the name of her lover, a million times, she did not have any concrete part to play in the film.
In some parts, the film uses too many voiceovers and expositions, explaining almost every detail to the T for its viewers. In one scene, to show Shiva is full of questions, not only does he say he’s got questions, but he also flips open a lighter and unleashes a set of question mark-shaped flames.
In the first part of this Astraverse film, the world and plot took precedence over the characters. However, for the Astra verse to become as ground-breaking as the MCU, the script needs to be as sparkling as the special effects.
