Review for Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva:
•Language:HINDI
•Duration: 02 Hour 47 Minutes.
•Genre: FANTASY ACTION-ADVENTURE.
•POSITIVES:
1: GRAPHICS AND VFX
2: DIRECTION
3: SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES
4: MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE
5: PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS
6: CINEMATOGRAPHY
7: EDITING
• NEGATIVES:
1: PREDICTABLE STORY
2: LENGTHY DURATION
3: SOME ROMANTIC SCENES LEAD TO DRAG.
•ONE WORD: Brahmāstra offers a fascinating cinematic experience of love and powers.
•REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI R
•STORY IDEA:
Shiva is an orphan who works as a DJ in Mumbai and he lives with orphan kids. He will come across Isha and will fall in love with her. Isha will also get attracted to Shiva after knowing him well and both will fall in love with each other. Soon Shiva will get flashes and dreams of Junoon who is evil, who is on a run and searching for the pieces of Brahmāstra. Shiva in his flash will see the killing of a scientist named Mohan Bhargav and will come to know that he is also somehow linked to the missing pieces of Brahmāstra. Later Shiva in another dream will see Anish Shetty and Guru whose life is about to be in danger by Junoon. Anish Sheety holds a missing piece of Brahmāstra so Junoon will decide to kill him, knowing that Shiva and Isha will leave for Varanasi to find Anish Sheety. From Varanasi with the fantasy power of Anish Shetty, they will defeat Junoon and will leave for Himachal to find Guru. On the way, Anish Shetty will be defeated by Junoon in another fight and he will sacrifice his life to save Brahmastra and Shiva. After Shiva finds Guru he will realise many secrets about Brahmāstra and also the secrets about his parents. The rest of the story is about the battle between Shiva and Junoon for Brahmāstra.
•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:
The film Brahmāstra is written and directed by Ayan Mukerjee and Hussain Dalal writes the dialogue for the film. The film is produced by Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Namit Malhotra, Ranbir Kapoor, Marijke Desouza and Ayan Mukerji. The film comes under the production company of Star Studios, Dharma Productions, Prime Focus and Starlight Pictures. Star Studios (India) and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures are distributing the film in India and overseas. With a running time of 167 minutes, the film is currently running in theatres in IMAX, 3D and 2D formats.
A mind-blowing film and that’s the perfect way to describe Brahmāstra. No doubt, the movie gives a strong reply to those who are asking that Indians can make movies like Marvel Studios. I was stunned by seeing the quality and standard, it was like seeing a Hollywood film, with the beautiful graphics and VFX the film offers an unforgettable cinematic experience. The making was topnotch, the screenplay was flawlessly written, the graphics kept surprising and the performance of the actors was making the movie to an unimaginable brilliant level. I am sure everyone will be shocked after seeing Brahmāstra because the visuals of this film has a predominant power to engage every type of audience. From the beginning till the end I felt that I was in the world of Astras, the fantasy concepts and the fictitious beliefs of Hindhu mythologies were amazingly blended into the script and the consistent direction by Ayan Mukerjee made the film interesting and exciting.
I don’t know which team and who all did the graphics and VFX, honestly, they made this movie vigorous. All the graphics were excellent, none of them felt mismatched or exaggerated. Every single VFX and graphic were made according to the situation and it maintained a great impact. All the graphics helped to give a visual appeal, for exhibiting the various fantasy concepts and situations the graphics and VFX were convincingly produced so the entire graphics and VFX boosted to give many thrilling moments. When looking into the script, Ayan Mukerji’s story is fresh, promising, and has the potential elements of a big-scale fantasy entertainer. The storyline is predictable but it does occur as an issue in the viewing experience. Ayan Mukerji writes the screenplay effectively, especially in the first half and the climax. In the mid areas of the second half, the movie was slightly getting slow to establish the subplots but maintained the right flow by not making the viewing boring.
Ayan Mukerji’s direction was strong. He handled the script in a mature serious way and the making symbolizes the quality of an engaging fantasy adventure film. The romantic portions are lovely but still, some of the combination scenes between Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt were a little dragged out. It was affecting the engaging experience, the cliche way of romantic dialogue and some outdated situations were creating an off-balance from the actual theme. Like I said the romantic scenes are not fully had, only some of them were not effective. The love between hero and heroine in the film has a strong foundation to unfold the various situations and how their love helps them to face their obstacles was nicely made by Ayan Mukerjee. I felt the chemistry between Ranbir Kapoor, how they fall in love, how they understand each other and how far they will go for their love was magnificently made in the film.
Wake Up Sid and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani are the two previous films of Ayan Mukerjee and it is filled with drama, comedy and romance, and actions don’t come in these two. But in Brahmāstra action sequences play a significant role and how the director Ayan Mukerjee crafted those scenes and their situations were outstanding. Action sequences in the film surprised me, they had the leverage to make me thrilled, the car chase scene was fantastic among the action sequences. When fantasy concepts are introduced in Indian language movies they will be mostly hard to digest but here the script, making and graphics don’t make us think like that. The writing and direction have enough quality, fantasy concepts didn’t feel like an exaggeration, solid sensible explanations are given and a convincing way of making was seen throughout. The movie makes us captivated, the facts of Astras and the superpowers associated with it have the content to attract, and some ideas in the film are inspired by Hollywood but still, they are blended in the right form with our Indian fictional mythologies. The creativity, innovation and vision of Ayan Mukerjee are evident in his filmmaking and I will grant full marks for it, and the confidence of the young filmmaker is proved. Ayan Mukerji in Brahmāstra gives many interesting surprises, the terrific interval block, unexpected subplots and the tale end for the sequel is the best example.
When comparing the first half and the second half I enjoyed the first half more. The first half was energetic, Ayan Mukerji had given many surprising factors, and unexpected cameos were shocking. How the film is tracking into the actual story was interesting, the journey of Shiva and Isha to find Guru was exhilarating with many good moments. The second half was focused more on the superpowers and capabilities of Shiva, that scene was making the momentum of the film a little weak. The training of Amitabh Bachchan was good but it was stretched so a slight lag was seen here and there. The most engrossing moment in the second half is the subplot, the flashback linked with Astras and about the parents of Shiva was lustrously made by Ayan Mukerjee. The flashback scenes helped to regain the engaging experience and after the reveal, the movie perfectly maintained the right flow till the ultimate climax. The climax was satisfying, action sequences made justice for the situations and the battle between hero and villain had influenced my viewing experience. The scene after the climax for the second part is promising for a possible potential sequel. As mentioned earlier most of the occurrences in the film are easily predictable but still, it will be fun to watch because you can’t know the way it would be presented to you. As a director, Ayan Mukerji brilliantly used the stardom of Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna and Shah Rukh Khan. Their role has given extra strength to the film, they were presented at the right time, and for leading the film forward their characters were having many significant things to do also, and sufficient space was given for them to perform. Their screen presence and their contribution to the film are completely paisa vasool moments. So overall with the help of terrific graphics and VFX the making of Ayan Mukerji stood above the standard, and I enjoyed the contents of Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva.
•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The film has the casting of Ranbir Kappor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna, Mouni Roy and Shah Rukh Khan. Ranbir Kapoor was a perfect choice for the character Shiva. Ranbir was a good pick as a superhero and his acting capability made the character memorable. The amount of charm he brings to this character will make you connect and the authentic acting he exhibited was nice to watch. I loved the way he undertook the character, the expressions and the way of handling the stations were nicely acted out. His body language and the amazing dialogue delivery had given more shine to his acting. The action sequences were done in the best way and his climax sequences were thrilling and showed his natural acting skills. He also just touches the base of the ‘superheroic’ trait of his character and I think the makers will develop further in the upcoming instalments which will surely happen. Alia Bhatt gives Ranbir ample support throughout the film and their chemistry looks romantic. Their love and romance had depth and their acting and their chemistry lifted the movie to unfold various events. Alia Bhatt’s facial expressions were nice, the emotional scenes were so good and the tears in her eyes felt realistic. The way she smiled, the way she loved Ranbir in the film and the way she stood for him was lovely to watch. Amitabh Bachchan as Guru doesn’t have much to do apart from unlocking Shiva’s potential. He might have an important role in the backstory of these characters which could unfold further, but as of now he just added some extra depth to the storyline. Nagarjuna’s ‘Nandi Bail’ super-power came across as one of the coolest things you’d watch on the big screen. Yes, he as an actor doesn’t have much to contribute to the story but his character even in limited scenes looks cool and will attract south viewers. Mouni Roy did an incredible performance, her villain character was thrilling and the way she did it was beautiful. Her combination scene with Ranbir and Alia was creating the best exciting moments in the film and the negative shade in the character was amazingly carried out by Mouni Roy till the end. Her expressions and acting didn’t have any flaws and till the end, she maintained the shades of a real villain.
•MUSIC, BACKGROUND SCORE AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS:
The musical work for the film is composed by the hitmaker Pritam and it was melodious. The three songs in the film were good to hear and they matched well for the occasions in the film. The song “Kesariya” is my favourite, sung by Arijit Singh and written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The song, tune and voice of Arjith Singh brought up many beautiful memories. The feel given by the song is unbelievable and the powerful voice of Arjith Singh is magical, the song is now on my favourite playlist. The song “Dance Is Bhoot” was nice, the dance of Ranbir Kapoor and the visuals of the Dussehra festival and DJ celebration matched the song. The song “Deva Deva” was appealing because of the visuals, the graphics and VFX in the song were mindblowing. The tune was also attractive, Arijit Singh and Jonita Gandhi had done a good job with their voices. The background score was impressive, for the action sequences and the crucial scenes were filled with some interesting tunes to grab our attention. The fantasy scene was perfectly balanced by some terrific background scores, those scenes with the acting of Ranbir and with the background score did a good impression and also the nice VFX scenes had made a great impact. The background score at the climax portion was magically implemented and all the fantasy superpowers and fight sequences created many exhilarating moments.
The efforts and richness in the technicality made the film ‘Bhramathra’ visually appealing. The production design, cinematography, editing, colour grading, locations, make-up, stunts and VFX looked prominent and the movie guarantees a big visual treat for the viewers. The cinematography by V. Manikandan, Pankaj Kumar, Sudeep Chatterjee, Vikash Nowlakha and Patrick Duroux were attractive, and the camera movements during the action sequences were undertaken brilliantly. Therefore every action sequence in the film looked thrilling, and the visuals of the climax fight need to be mentioned separately, it was amazing. The various visuals and locations of Himachal and Varanasi were elegantly matching for the script, and the beauty of Manali and its cold weather was shot appropriately according to the storyline. The close-up frames were nice, and the various character transformations of Ranbir Kapoor and Mouni Roy and their intense expressions were shot rightly. The visuals of the song “Kesariya and Deva Deva” was beautifully composed, and the aspects of love and the chemistry of Ranbir and Aliya were fitting to make the love blossom. The lighting methods in the film were good, the indoor shots had the perfect lighting and the wide-angle frames in the outdoor locations of Manali were pleasingly shot.
The editing of Prakash Kurup was nice, the film never felt stretched and some scenes could have been trimmed to make the length of the film shorter. The editing techniques were fine, the intact cut and transition of the scene had a right flow and didn’t make any sort of mismatches in the viewing. The VFX and Graphics are brilliant, it’s like a visual treat and I am sure that everyone will be stunned. Every kind of graphics and VFX is having proper quality, the graphics in the film are the first and the most important winning factor which has helped to make an impact on this film. With the 3D effects, more beauty was seen in the graphics, some of the 3D effects were too surprising for our eyes and also the colour grading had given an additional vibrant feel to the screen. The makeup artist had done an extraordinary job and the way different makeup done for the various character transformations of villain characters looked mind-blowing. The terrific action sequences choreographed by Dhilip Subbarayan made a good impact on the film. The stunt sequences looked thrilling, and Ranbir’s fighting style was exhilarating with some exciting moments. The car chase scenes, gunshots, blasts, fights and other action scenes were choreographed genuinely according to the situations in the plot, the climax fight sequences were the best.
•CONCLUSION:
So overall I loved watching Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva and I will recommend this film to everyone. The top-quality graphics and VFX with the 3D effects in the film will make you wonder. The direction and the script by Ayan Mukerjee are powerful to give an engaging cinematic experience, and the world of Astra will keep on hooking you till the end. The performance of Ranbir Kapoor, Aliya Bhatt and Mouni Roy is outstanding and also the technical quality is offering the best theatrical experience. Therefore, Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva is a must-watch film, and one should not miss this visual treat from the big screen, so book the tickets as early as possible and be a part of the world of Astras.
•VERDICT: A WORTH WATCH VISUAL TREAT.
•RATING: 4/5
