Brahmastra: High on effects but lacks strong writing
Amid Bollywood’s downtime and boycott trends on social media, Ayan Mukerji’s ambitious and high-budget movie Brahmastra was released last week. This has been in the making for the past couple of years.
The announcement came when I was a minor. The movie took off while I was an undergraduate and finally released now, I’m a working professional!
I watched the trailer on my laptop, and the effects looked worse, as in they looked superficial. Last month when I was watching Thiru in PVR Nexus Mall, the trailer was played, and it looked good. I was waiting for the movie to be out, and after hearing from two of my friends that the film is good on large screens, I booked a ticket to watch it in 3D.
Disclaimer: Spoilers are present in this blog post.
The movie starts with the voice-over of Amitabh, narrating the premise of the story of Brahmastra with an animated presentation. Okay, good, I thought. Using the mythological elements, Ayan created a fictional world and brought the age-old theme of Good vs Evil using the metaphors Light vs Dark.
The story progresses as Shiva (Ranbir), a DJ, discovers his life is complicated with things happening outside his consciousness (in dreams) and beyond his control. He is a happy-going person otherwise with a simple living funda. Fire doesn’t burn him, and he doesn’t know the reason for this strange relationship with fire.
Isha, played by Alia Bhatt, is his love interest. It is a Love-at-first-sight for Shiva, and Isha doesn’t take too long to fall for him. A cliched and substandard love track that annoyed me.
Shiva finds the dreams he’s getting are actual events happening to the members of his society, Brahmansh, whose goal is to protect the Astras, particularly Brahmastra, from the evil headed by unconscious Deva, who’s neither dead nor alive.
Shiva shares about these strange things happening in his life, and together they search for an artist who’s in threat in Varanasi, played by Nagarjuna! And what happens next is the crux of the story.
Spoiler time: The initial part of the movie has SRK, and the charming screen presence sets the movie high, and the motive is set there. I wish they had given more screen time to both SRK and Nagarjuna. They both played roles effectively, and SRK’s screen presence sets the film’s mood. I got high and eagerly waited to watch him soon in Atlee’s Jawan. Nagarjuna got a good role, and he played it with grace. I wish he had more screen time and hope they’ll have him in sequels.
Coming to the performances, Ranbir is charming in some scenes with Alia. He literally struggles to perform in the intense scenes where he struggles due to his dreams. He’s a good actor, but this acting doesn’t feel like it.
Alia Bhatt plays Isha, and if you read any comments on the film, good or bad, people didn’t connect to the love track. It’s poorly written, performed without soul, and after a point, felt annoying to hear “Shiva, tum theek ho?” from Isha and “Isha, tum theek ho?” from Shiva. Alia screams “Shiva” throughout the movie barring the songs.
Mouni Roy plays an evil Junoon who should scare us but fails. She tries to do well, but I believe due to inexperience in handling such a subject or poor script, Ayan fails to get the actors’ performances.
Nagarjuna and SRK, as mentioned, are the saviours, and even with Amitabh, Ayan failed in getting performance. It felt too dizzy and uninteresting.
The cinematography is good in getting the effects, but after a certain point in the film, all I felt was like watching a Laser show on the screen.
The effects are sound, especially in 3D, but what’s the use when you don’t have a good story that feels all over the place?
The music tries hard to elevate the scenes, and it succeeds in the movie’s key scenes. Thankfully the music is not loud enough to give you a headache during the laser show.
The movie felt like watching Diwali lights with Holi colours. It lacks depth, has no structure, and is left half cooked.
Love wins over all Astras is a defining moment in the story, but it would’ve taken off well if they built the story well.
Ayan messed up the storytelling, which should be the primary focus. It’s the first film of the 3-part trilogy. I hope and suggest hiring a better writer whose input can be used before mounting the following parts. Else, the money will be wasted again on mediocre writing.
One filmmaker said in an interview, “Audience should judge on the story we tell, the cinema we present, that’s it. We can’t beg them to judge us based on the efforts we put in to make the film. All they want is to value their time and money. They don’t care what we do to make the film.” Wise words indeed.
Overall, Brahmastra is not that bad; it’s not great, either. If you can watch a good use of effects on rather superficial writing, go for it. Else, better to re-watch Avatar, which is re-releasing towards the end of this month.
I posted this meme on my social media account, and some friends who liked the movie responded with their thoughts. You know, it was good discussing what we liked and didn’t like, standing on our opinions, and respecting others. Grateful to the friends who have these mature conversations without offence or abusing each other. Thankfully, my circle isn’t nasty :)
