‘Brahmastra’ movie review: Bruh!

Film BrahmastraDirector Ayan MukerjiActors Ranbir Kapoor Alia BhattRating 25Isha ka matlab kya hai you know what my name meansrdquo Alia Bhatt asks the hero Ranbir Kapoorrsquos character ldquoParvatirdquo she says in which case she might wish to explain what Parvati means Given that shersquos merely giving the synonym of her name Implying in this case of course wife of Lord Shiva since the herorsquos named thusThe two meet at a ravenightclub as their eyes do and the hero a DJ is instantly besotted to take her to his orphanage home from the elevator the same night He slips into a delirium soon after while she sticks around still hardly freaked out The 3D screen is so overloaded with CGI computer generated images that the herorsquos chawllike place in Mumbai seems a spaceship of sortsAlso Read Brahmastra makes record opening beating Sanju and SooryavanshiHow do you even expressively connect with these lead characters let alone their romance You donrsquot barring that theyrsquore the loveliest looking couple ever likely on screen And itrsquos not that this is in essence a romantic film anyway Whatrsquos it about thenldquoBrahmanshrdquo as Amitabh Bachchan aka lsquoGurujirsquo informs landing up only at the intermission point of this moviemdashtaking us through a membersrsquo only lsquoRotary Clubrsquo of mostly senior citizens Dimple Kapadia being one of them who are astronomically connected over generationsmdashinvested with certain hidden powers or secret weaponsThe hero Shiva is obviously another member of this cosmic Country Club So is an lsquoartistrsquo Nagarjuna As is the lsquoscientistrsquo Swadesrsquos Mohan Bhargav Shah Rukh Khan that this film opens withThe sense I could make is that the antagonist Mouni Roy and her armymdashwho you feel as uninterested or disinvested in as the protagonists itselfmdashare after the good guys for portions of their prime lsquoastrasrsquo weaponsWhich is what makes this film set in the lsquoastra versersquo apparently So in simple terms think of this film as say Thanos wanting those six Infinity Stones in order to destroy the planet as it were MaybeOnly the filmmakers donrsquot keep it simple in a way that Marvel primarily aimed at children do Neither is it dark and clever like DC or Christopher Nolanrsquos pix that you might wish a Googlesearch primer to enjoy it better You could just feel quite needlessly bored after a point here thatrsquos allEspecially with some inanities for dialogues that follow such as if you must sample a gem ldquoLight uss roshni ka naam hai jo andheron se badi hai Light is the name of light that is greater than all darknessrdquo Or if I heard that right ldquoRaftaar ko gati hara sakti hai Speed can defeat speedrdquoNow let me get to the good news In terms of promised spectacle Brahmastra is decidedly better than its trailermdashthat seemed scarily close to Shaktimaan for its special effectThe scale for Bollywoodrsquos superherofantasies lately is anyway only somewhere between Rudraksh Drona and RAOne This is much superior Meaning there is seriously no halfassing on VFX Every frame is polished to bedazzle you with lights and colours Even if the filmmakers seem overwhelmed by the worldbuilding at handAlso Read lsquoShah Rukh Khans character in Brahmastra an ode to SwadesrsquoIn exchange for a setpiece by the second they may have emotionally undernourished the scriptmdashnamely patiently relatable backstoriescharacters The very aspects that director Ayan Mukerji securely scored with in his first two films which were comingofage romcoms Wake Up Sid Yeh Jawani Hai DeewaniWhether or not he seems out of depth here hersquos certainly operating outside his warm intimate comfort space Killing it with 3D surely I guess a good measure for which is the depth of field As in how far back can you see on the screen to allow for the immersive effect of getting drawn into itThis is stellar stuff on the tech front Even with objects such as great balls of fire dancing before hitting you in the eyes on occasion In all of this didnrsquot think Irsquod trip mainly to the song sequences on the giant IMAXmdashlsquoKesariyarsquo lifted from lsquoLaari chhootirsquo or lsquoDeva DevarsquoBrahmastra Irsquom told is Indiarsquos most expensive filmmdashthe cheque of around R500 crore signed off by Disney then Star It shows As does the audacity of the producers to announce its sequel in the final frame Part Two Deva which is otherwise contingent on the commercial success of Part One Hollywood has regularly pulled off such franchises on account of its global audience And comicbook fans over generationsOnly a salespitch so staggering in its vision could have brought such topnotch cast and crew to aim for the crores with this film Just that ideas donrsquot make films no I suspect plot and characters you connect with doOn that account this feels like a slightly hollow hot mess that leaves you feeling distantly cold And if the story slips off your attention span the intention can go fetch oil for all we care rightThat said itrsquos not my brief to tell you what to domdashlet alone watch or not watch a film Itrsquos merely to narrate a personal experience As it is Brahmastra belongs to a genre thatrsquos categorically criticproof As should all movies made to collectively marvel at the massive screenPlay Quiz How well do you know Akshay Kumar

‘Brahmastra’ movie review: Bruh!

Film: Brahmastra
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Actors: Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt
Rating: 2/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / ‘Brahmastra’ movie review: Bruh!

‘Brahmastra’ movie review: Bruh!

Film: BrahmastraDirector: Ayan MukerjiActors: Ranbir Kapoor, Alia BhattRating: 2/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Film: Brahmastra
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Actors: Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt
Rating: 2/5