Page 19 - Seniorstoday September 2022 Issue

Alaimentary
The Ultimate Astra
Other than the VFX, Brahmastra is at best a fatuous reference to the
scriptures and beliefs, writes Nagesh Alai
A family outing yesterday, a curious albeit
a reluctant accompanier, saw me spending
a mini fortune to experience the latest
Hindi film, Brahmastra in 3D format. It is
a lavishly mounted visual feast and a VFX
treat undoubtedly, all fire and fireballs
seemingly hurling at us within inches of
our eyeballs, thanks to the special glasses to
facilitate that immersive experience of the
sensory spectacle. Little wonder, it boasts
about production costs upwards of Rs 400
crore, a major part of which will be fees of
the impressive star assemblage, I am sure.
Apart from the VFX, there is little to write
home about the poor screen presence of the
lead cast or the storyline or the script or the
editing, particularly making the second half
of the movie rather tedious and repetitive.
Thus far, there has been a mixed response
from the audience, although the box-office
seems to be clinking and tinkling in the first
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #39 | SEPTEMBER 2022
few days of the film’s opening. With the
OTT and overseas rights, the makers hope
to rake in the moolah and offer a welcome
silver lining for the hit-parched Bollywood,
though these are early days yet.
This is not meant to be a film critique nor
am I competent at that, but rather about
a more serious subject and the context of
‘brahmastra’, the title of the film. What
had piqued my interest in the first place
was the title of the film (in my mind, the
divine attributes of brahmastra) and the
connect to the content or storyline of the
film. I was dismayed at the tenuousness
of the connect, except for the facetious
allusion to brahmastra being a potent
force or a weapon of destruction and used
conveniently to mount it grandiosely on
the screen. To add a dash of seriousness,
the film talks about brahmansh (a secret
society of some divined people who have
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