Ups & Downs (More Than A ‘Review’): Brahmastra is finally in theatres and people are going gaga over it. Undoubtedly, the film has taken a bumper start at the box office and is just going to get bigger and bigger. But with so much hype being created, is this Ranbir Kapoor’s biggie really worth it? Let’s take a look.
Let’s first get it clear that it’s not like a usual review. We’ll be trying to be as simple as possible by spotting the Ups & Downs of the film.
7 Ups of Brahmastra
Concept – Ayan Mukerji, kudos to you brother! This young man dared to come up with such an idea about presenting our culture and supernatural beliefs on a grand level by catering them in a fashion similar to Marvel superhero films. This genre is still not much explored in India and this film looks like a big step in a positive direction.
VFX – Bollywood has been trying to come up with some really good visual effects stuff and it finally succeeds with this one. The flawless integration of CGI footage and elements makes this film a big screen spectacle, especially in IMAX 3D. It could be blindly believed that around 400 crores are spent on this one.
Music & BGM – For such a visual spectacle like Brahmastra, background music needs to be on point, and here Simon Franglen does his job really well. The intensity could be felt during action scenes. Out of all, that “Swayam Tu Agni Hi” during the pre-interval scene gives chills! Talking about the songs, Deva Deva and Kesari elevate the overall effect and stays in your head even after leaving the theatre.
Shah Rukh Khan cameo – SRK’s cameo works a big time here! He’s been smartly named Mohan Bhargav (a loose reference to Mohan Bhargav in Swades, who too was shown scientist in the film). His screen presence is damn powerful and helps the film to take a powerful start.
Nagarjuna – Nagarjuna comes as a saviour in the first half when Brahmastra slows down a bit. He doesn’t have much to talk but his intense presence brings back that intriguing factor. Even at the age of 63, the veteran is a treat to watch during action scenes.
Pre-interval block – The scene before the interval comes as a perfect adrenaline rush. Ranbir Kapoor’s face-off goes to the next level with powerful BGM and top-notch VFX work. And that dynamic entry of Amitabh Bachchan filled with his aura is simply killing!
Climax – A climax can make or break a film, and here, it works for Brahmastra. All astras coming together to fight against the enemy is just a treat. Not just the performances but even the VFX team goes crazy with so many heart-thumping moments coming one after another. Not much could be explained here as the best thing is to experience it in theatres.
4 Downs of Brahmastra
Unnatural dialogues – Dialogues by Hussain Dalal feel too unnatural or artificial throughout the film. It just feels that these people can’t just converse like normal people. It’s understood that Amitabh has a powerful character to play, but looks simply out of touch with those forcibly heavy lines. Except for a couple of scenes, funny lines don’t sound funny.
Lack of chemistry & dragged romance – Even though Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt are real-life husband and wife, let’s accept that their chemistry lacks big-screen spark. Their romance looks dull and too vanilla. Thanks to this, whenever their romance comes on the screen, it feels really dragged. Believe it, it’ll make you yawn a couple of times. It deserved to be restricted, after all, people were excited to know about astras and not RK-Alia’s mushy romance.
Loose screenplay – No one denies this. Yes, the screenplay has a lot of flaws and the film does dip at points. It goes off track at times but there are saving graces throughout the film. The story is actually very simple and Ayan Mukerji’s attempt in making it look larger than life looks half-baked.
Suspense over Brahmastra 2 actors – Ayan Mukerji missed an opportunity to elevate the hype here by not revealing the faces that are going to be in part 2. If those actors had been revealed, it could have raised the overall excitement around the film.
Scope at the box office
Brahmastra is witnessing good to mixed reviews so far, with no one calling it a bad film. The film will mostly work with people in the 10-35 years age group. High prices of 3Ds, no competition (till Vikram Vedha comes) and hype will help the film in earning between 250-280 crores in India.
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