Thread by @Tushar15_

THREAD: An honest, non-political review of #Brahmastra #Part2

Beyond all the noise of numbers and boycotts, as someone who has been watching movies since childhood, I was intrigued to watch this movie after some mixed reviews yesterday. Again, non-political and only cinematic.

Based on the exchange rate back then, Spider-Man 3 (2007) cost Rs. 1435 Cr, Avengers-1 (2012) cost Rs. 1166 Crore, and more recently, Doctor Strange MOM (2022) cost Rs. 1520 Cr. All these numbers are approximations. In 2007, S3 collected Rs. 16 Cr on its opening weekend in India.

It could be a subject of ridicule for many. Still, if production houses in India can collaborate with other investors and stakeholders to produce a movie above Rs. 400 Crore, these are great signs, for films, like it or not, are one of the critical tools for soft power.

At the risk of overstating, must also admit that the investment is a testament to the faith in the economy when production houses believe that they can recover this amount after two years of almost no cinema and the pandemic impact. Many wouldn't risk such a budget for one flick.

Now, to begin with, Brahmashtra is no Bahubali, not even remotely, but it far from being a disaster too, as many with their cinematic biases may want to tell you. The VFX is the best you have ever seen in Bollywood (saw the movie in 3D). I say this with all respect.

Having watched most superhero movies on Friday for almost fifteen years, I wasn't expecting the VFX to be this impeccable, and probably, that is where the budget has gone. Location and costume budgets look almost nil. In 3D, it's flawless unless you want to nitpick by frame.

Two, the background score is fantastic, and since superhero movies rely on the score, they got this as right as it gets. And in some places even makes up for some not-so-good scenes on the screen. However, all songs are poorly done (IMO) and do nothing significant for the story.

I won't watch Interstellar for a lesson on wormholes and relativity, nor will I watch Avengers for a lesson on quantum mechanics, nor will I watch The Martian for a lesson on space travel, and neither shall I confuse Brahmashtra for a lesson on Hinduism. Doesn't work for me.

Movies are meant to intrigue you, as Interstellar did, inspiring me to buy a book on the science of its premises. Thus, I refuse to put movies or other industry stakeholders on any pedestal. I am good if they can entertain w/o insulting my nationalist and religious sentiments.

Movies are meant to intrigue you, as Interstellar did, inspiring me to buy a book on the science of its premises. Thus, I refuse to put movies or other industry stakeholders on any pedestal. I am good if they can entertain w/o insulting my nationalist and religious sentiments.

When Iron Man-2 came out in 2010, people criticised it for being too obsessed with setting up a future instalment before getting that right. The same was the fate of DC universe. And these are IPs with decades worth of comic book history. Even they had to go one step at a time.

Brahmashtra has that problem. It's not a complete movie; frustratingly, the second half is all about setting up the second movie. One can't understand the obsession with a cinematic verse, but they should have learned one step at a time from DC. There is no emotional connection.

You back to the origin stories of Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, and even Thor. Those are complete movies w/o any necessary focus on their connection with the grander cinematic premise or a sequel. Brahmashtra doesn't feel complete at all.

The second problem is the inconsistency in storytelling. To be fair to the director, he does not have comic book references to fall back on to decide the limits of a character, but this is where good writing would have helped. The deployment of powers is just so random.

For instance, a man with the power of thousand bulls perishes by falling off a cliff, and that too minutes after he heals a bullet wound with the same Astra? The protagonist threatens to drop off the three pieces of the Brahmashtra as they would get lost. I mean, what really?

PS: Scores of deaths by falling off the cliffs. Gravity is the most powerful Astra. Hail Issac Newton.

Not to say that there are no good sequences, there are plenty, but then you can't relate with the characters because they feel so random in their actions. Their strength depends on the direction the script must take. Bad idea for an origin story.

The biggest flaw point is the dialogue writing, however. My friends @nishthaanushree and @shivkmishr could have written lines that would have been a hundred times better in their sleep. It's the Tiktokisation of dialogues. They are cringe and pathetic, no kidding.

This entire thing is heavily Marvel-inspired, and that's alright, but it seems that the writers took a cue from the Hindi-dubs of these movies, but it came out as a very poor effort. It will definitely cost the movie in the long run. It's not even massy, nope.

I don't mind the Indianisation of the superhero genre if done this way, but they got greedy for sure (perhaps, it was the pressure of ROI). Even the MCU had to wait for eight years before it got the recognition it deserved. The shortcut storytelling is unimpressive.

The movie has zero emotional value from a story POV but great cinematic value, but flicks with the reverse of this composition have done exceedingly well recently, so we might as well accept this and move on. Finally, this movie is an amazing celebration of Hinduism.

It has barely scratched the surface, but done right the astraverse, if it continues, can open enough avenues for storytelling themes essential to Hinduism and that would be great for intriguing children, giving them the motivation to read and research more, given the times.

To sum it up, it's a bit of everything, from Harry Potter to X-Men to Eternals to Avengers to Justice League to Iron Man to Angels and Demons to The Da Vince Code. Still, it is in our setting, and to be honest, the premise overlaps are more common than ever, so forgivable it is.

I am not the one to say how well the movie will fare, but it is definitely more on the side of watchable, but again, if it gets a sequel, it's a commercial success, else add another chapter in the book with lessons on Drona, Ra.One, and many more.

Have been a fan of the genre for than two decades now, so excuse the length of the thread. 😛