Brahmastra: Weak storytelling drowns grand VFX; what next for Bollywood?

Ayan Mukherjee’s spectacular fantasy adventure, Brahmastra- Part 1: Shiva, brimming with Shiva symbols and dazzling tantric weapons of light, cannot be dismissed as a disaster. It has spell-binding, brilliant special effects which take you on an unusual astral journey which is fascinating at first but unfortunately, it is completely let down by the storytelling. 

That is the big black hole that this painstakingly constructed creative universe of Ayan Mukherjee – the Astraverse – disappears into with a howl of despair.

Desi Marvel

The howl of despair is at this wasted opportunity of trying to make a Marvel like movie with supernatural elements and superheroes with fantastic powers and deeply interwoven in Indian culture. It is indeed a great idea to make a desi Marvel, especially with our rich mythology strewn with a hundred gods and their zillion stories. 

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But, Ayan (who made the delightful coming-of-age film, Wake up Sid and glossy entertainer, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani), somehow loses his grip on the plot and the movie careens along at lightning speed towards a clumsy climax.

The question now remains, what will happen to Bollywood, trapped in its own chakravyuh, stubbornly refusing to invest time in screenplay or script, or solid character development, if this multi-crore mega-movie too flops at the box-office?

The story, based on Hindu mythology, circles around the all-mighty Brahmastra, a powerful weapon capable of wreaking destruction if it gets into the wrong hands, and so it is guarded by a secret society. But, a dark force dispatches an acolyte Junoon (Mouni Ray in black robes and glowing red eyes) to locate the missing pieces of the Brahmastra and sets off a series of events, which drags a young DJ Shiva (Ranbir Kapoor) into this eternal battle between the forces of evil and good.

Shiva, meanwhile, is busy falling head over heels in love with pretty rich girl Isha (Alia Bhatt) he meets at a Diwali club party (where Lord Ram symbolically shoots a fire-tipped arrow to kill the multi-headed Ravana, all of which makes for potent heady graphics and not much else). 

During their brief courtship, Ayan takes time to doff his hat at Shekhar Kapoor’s super hit film, Mr India, another fantasy 1987 superhero film, as Shiva is shown parenting a bunch of poor orphan children in his small room in a chawl.

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Alongside his romance, which turns out to be bigger than the forces of nature and the supernatural powers, Shiva is tormented by images he can see in his mind of a scientist Mohan Bhargav (yes, it is Shah Rukh Khan in a cameo role; he had played a NASA scientist called Bhargav in one of his best films, Swades) being attacked by Junoon and her two goons. 

Shiva travels to Varanasi along with a smitten Isha, who suddenly believes she may well be Parvati to his Shiva. Instead of Indiana Jones like escapades, where romance is just thrown in as an element on the side, Brahmastra seems unsure whether it is a love story or a fantasy tale. 

Finally, after another tryst with Junoon, who arrives in a rickety lorry driven by one of her side-kicks (otherwise she is flying around and that is all very confusing), they reach the ashram in which the guru, a nifty, grey-haired Amitabh Bachchan, lives with a troupe of children with supernatural powers. And, it is here that Shiva learns about his past and his own super powers.

Mixed signals

The climax of the battle between light and darkness is a hodge-podge leaving the audience, who had expected more than just the earth opening up and fire formations in the sky. Frankly, if Indian filmmakers have to copy Marvel they have to be pretty good at it or else the younger generation bred on classy, pulsating entertainment ends up feeling let down.

On chemistry and VFX

Ranbir and Alia have good chemistry and light up the screen when they are together. Ranbir, however, most of the time looks confused as Shiva, while Alia manages to keep her wits about her even in this bizarre world. 

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The hero of the film is the VFX, which has been executed by the London-based VFX company DNEG, the team behind the Oscar-winning film Dune and many other notable Hollywood films. Amitabh Bachchan is effortless — he can play the wise old Bheeshma in any parallel universe. Nagarjuna has a small role and can be easily missed.

The dialogues are stilted and jarring, especially, when Shiva explains that the missing pieces of the Brahmastra are like pizza chunks! Or, there are lame attempts to be funny about Isha’s sleepy uncle at a Durga puja, which is nothing short of cringe-worthy in this large-scale film.

The music is good. Om Deva Deva is especially catchy and danceable. Composed by Pritam and sung by Arijit, this song is all set to become a hit, as the audience was walking out humming the number. 

Fodder for Hindutva

With Brahmastra, it seems Bollywood in one way is going all out to appease the Hindutva forces, with Ranbir and Alia with chandan smeared foreheads markedly doing puja to a Shivaling et al and the theme circles around the Hindu gods. It only remains to be seen if the boycott gang will still go after the film. However, that is really not Brahmastra-Part 1′s problem.

Some of the audience, who have been fed a steady diet of Hollywood’s skillfully crafted Marvel universes, may find this Indian Hinduised version tepid. Certainly, it lacks that finesse largely because of the story and it does not seem like Brahmastra, on which a lot is riding, and despite SS Rajamouli presenting it in South Indian languages, is going to set the box-office on fire.

All that one can chant now is Om Deva O Deva, what next for Bollywood?