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Brahmastra: Bollywood’s epic failure in fantasy filmmaking

Ayan Mukerji's "Brahmastra" falls flat in terms of its concept, storyline and dialogue; you don’t feel anything for the hero (Ranbir Kapoor) either.

Vichitrakar

Published Sep 13, 2022 | 3:37 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 13, 2022 | 3:37 PM

brahmastra ayan mukerji

Bollywood director Ayan Mukerji's "Brahmastra" is an absolute show of how bad Bollywood’s understanding of our culture is. (BrahmastraFilm/Twitter)

Director Ayan Mukerji’s fantasy action-adventure drama Brahmastra is making waves all over the internet.

Starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Mouni Roy, Amitabh Bachchan and Telugu actor Nagarjuna Akkineni in lead roles, the movie has been released in South Indian languages too, on 9 September. Renowned Telugu filmmaker SS Rajamouli presented the south versions.

Now, if one set of analysts is to be believed, the film is doing amazingly well at the box office. But then, the others have termed it a dud. Meanwhile, social media is seemingly divided over its box office collections.

Now, since I really don’t care about the numbers, I decided to watch the movie to understand who is right.


To start with, let me tell you that mythology is tricky. We live in a world of a living pantheon and our gods are as real to us as ourselves. And Brahmastra is an absolute show of how bad Bollywood’s understanding of our culture is.

Of course, I get that this is all made up in the Astraverse that Ayan Mukerji has created, and he is a creative genius who could have imagined Astras as humans. Well, all of this might be new to the people in parts of North India, but we in the South would find it absolutely wayward and abysmally ignorant.

Telugu cinema’s past connection with fantasy

Telugu cinema is the bedrock of fantasy stories. We pretty much grew up in households where we were forced to watch director K Shankar’s Bhookailas (1958) or KV Reddy’s Mayabazar, and NT Rama Rao’s Sri Krishna Pandaveeyam (1966) every summer.

If you came from a family of film buffs, you would also know about movies like Keelu Gurram (1949) starring A Nageswara Rao and Anjali Devi.

We created a world of high fantasy and a genuine connection to our past. Over the years NTR, ANR and then director-producer B Vittalacharya brought heroes, monsters, villains and magic into our homes.

The last big outing in this space for Tollywood was Rajamouli’s Baahubali 1 and 2 (2015 and 2017). The two-part series introduced the world to Indian cinema and the power of Indian creativity.

Nothing special about Brahmastra

Now, Brahmastra falls flat in terms of its concept, storyline and dialogue. It seems like Ayan Mukerji wanted to do a Wake Up Sid (a 2009 rom-com featuring Ranbir and Konkana Sen Sharma) in the fantasy world or some confused coming-of-age story.

But if we take away the crores spent on special effects, which look like they have been inspired by multiple Disney movies, and you will realise that this film is soulless.

Most heroes in fantasy are written based on the seven tasks of Hercules. There is adversity, conquest, and then realisation.

However, in Brahmastra, you don’t feel anything for the hero (Ranbir); he hasn’t really traversed adversity or adventure. He thinks that the most coveted weapon is similar to a Pizza! He seems to need the girl right next to him to turn his powers on (this is absolutely what he says).

There is nothing special about Shiva and you really can’t fool an industry which created the likes of Bhairava Dweepam (1994) — directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao — and turned a simple light trick of green gas into one of the most terrifying fantasy tools.

Now is the time for India to showcase its story-telling prowess to the world.


If not anything, Marvel’s superhero franchise Avengers made close to ₹400 crore in India in its last outing (2009 released Avengers: Endgame). And we aren’t able to create a single large-scale fantasy film that can break the barriers in the West!

Indian audiences deserve more respect from Bollywood filmmakers, who have for the longest time served half-baked stories as fantasy entertainment. Hope you all remember Goldie Behl’s Drona (2008) — the desi Harry Potter!

(The views expressed are personal.)

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