“Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva,” directed by Ayan Mukerji, stars newlywed Indian actors Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt as Shiva and Isha. Think of the style of the movie itself as a Bollywood version of “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
Bollywood is Hollywood’s Indian counterpart in movies and boasts a variety of films.
“Brahmāstra,” which was released on Sept. 9, was its first foray into a fantasy that attempts to resemble the intensity of films such as “Lord of The Rings.”
The plot revolves around Shiva’s strange relationship with fire, specifically after his mother died in a fire that left him unscathed.
Soon enough, he is able to control fire with his “superpower,” which is revealed to be more than just a party trick. Random visions appear before him, exposing that the fate of the world and universe quite literally lies in his hands.
Once he meets Alia Bhatt’s character Isha at a party, he begins to further discover his abilities.
His love for Isha is what fuels his superpower and is what allows him to explore his vulnerabilities and recondition his fears into his strengths.
The film carries a lot of religious Hindu connotations and references that may fly over people’s heads without any context.
For instance, the main character’s name is derived from Shiva, the destroyer in Hinduism, according to an Aug. 17 Britannica article.
The word “Brahmāstra” comes from the God Brahma and “astra,” which means weapon.
Rooted in Hindu mythology, it is believed that the Brahmāstra is so powerful it could destroy the entire universe, according to a Sept. 9 article by DNA India, an India-based English daily newspaper.
Throughout the film, Shiva attempts to unite all of the pieces of the weapon called Brahmāstra, which has the power to either destroy or heal the universe, depending on who has it.
But it’s not a typical Bollywood movie if there aren’t at least 40 other subplots and complications, much like a soap opera.
What is a three-hour-long Bollywood drama without a complicated antagonist?
Junoon, played by Indian actress Mouni Roy, conveniently possesses one of the three pieces of the Brahmāstra weapon.
Her entire purpose is to use the Brahmāstra to serve and revive her lord and savior, Dev, the ultimate antagonist in the film.
I honestly don’t know what’s worse, the fact that she’s that irritatingly persistent cockroach who just won’t die or she has blind devotion to Dev.
Some would likely assume a Bollywood movie of that length would execute its plot points well.
I grew up watching Bollywood movies and I can tell whether a three-hour film used its time wisely.
However, “Brahmāstra” painfully missed its mark.
The best part of the film was Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan, also known as SRK, who had a 10-minute cameo at the beginning of the film.
As soon as I saw Khan, who is known as the “King of Bollywood,” I had high expectations for the movie but, boy, was I disappointed.
He carried Brahmāstra in the 10 minutes of his screen time, more than all of the actors combined throughout the movie.
However, even the king himself could not have saved that film.
There were so many holes and inconsistencies in the plot, leaving me with more questions than answers.
The writing is sloppy. Why did Isha’s entire identity and background story disappear when she jumped into a relationship with Shiva?
Name one brown family that doesn’t blow up their daughters’ phones if they’re not home by 10 p.m., mine included.
I don’t know what’s more unrealistic, the fact that Isha disappears across the country with a strange man without her family foaming at the mouth or the awful computer-generated-imagery superpowers.
There’s also no way you can convince me that the Shiva and Isha characters are in love with each other. The dedication to prove that there was enough chemistry for them to kindle an off-screen relationship is unbelievable to me.
In fact, my initial reaction to the casting was, “Did Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor get married just to promote this movie?”
Isha is played by Alia Bhatt, an actor who Hollywood will be hearing about soon with her upcoming 2023 film “Heart of Stone,” in which she will be acting alongside Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot.
In each of her roles, she is a daring force to be reckoned with who outperforms costars and genuinely leaves you in awe of her acting range.
Yet in “Brahmāstra,” she plays Shiva’s side piece whose only purpose is to help turn “on” his fire powers.
The majority of her dialogue is simply “Shiva.”
It’s a major downgrade and absolutely insulting to her talent and at this point, she was basically an overpaid extra.
The film industry does a great job of taking away a woman’s identity and molding them to an alpha male’s standards.
I hardly see films where the woman in a heterosexual relationship isn’t either being saved or dedicating her entire existence to support her man-child love interest.
Isha’s role was a total letdown because the promotional content portrayed her as Shiva’s equal. But ultimately, we’ve been catfished again.
While I think that it was the most average movie I’ve ever seen, some fans seem to disagree as the film made $2.4 million in theaters on the third weekend since its release, according to a Sept. 26 Forbes article.
All in all, my mother summed it up best after we watched the film together when she said we were, “better off rewatching an old SRK classic at home.”
I give “Brahmāstra” two-out-of-five stars and that’s ONLY because of Shah Rukh Khan’s cameo.