Brahmastra Part One: Shiva

Overall, it's a good attempt, but Bollywood needs to understand that story is king.

1. The screenplay is one of the film's weakest points; it is cringy.

2. The background score is brilliant, but songs do break the rhythm of the movie.

3. The film is too chaotic.

4. Ranbir learns Agni in 5 minutes. There is no learning arc or struggle.

5. I actually love the magic school setting, but there's no focus there. It's really a missed opportunity.

6. There is no emphasis on other characters.

7.rushed and ilogical finale.

Pros

Both cameos are brilliant and showcase Astra's brilliance brilliantly.

I just got out of watching the first show in my city and was mostly happy with the attempt at a superhero movie by Ayan Mukherjee but the actors and dialogues let the movie down, mostly the dialogue choices were uniform and no steps to innovate were taken. Would have enjoyed it more if I could relate more to the characters in the movie. Even though it is a fantasy movie but the way characters were behaving, the world felt a little too simple with no relation to natural human behaviour. If you are not going to put effort in world building then at least make sure to introduce elements to our existing reality.

Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, is the movie with both good and bad. Here are my views after the 1st day 1st show watch.

Good: 1. The CGI which delivered well most of the time.

2. Music and especially the BGM which can be very catchy.

3. The attempt. India is rich with mythological stories and the movie is a nice try to represent one.

Bad: 1. Acting, yes acting. It's quite odd to see capable actors like Ranbir and Alia act so loudly and throw each and every dialogue out loud. Same for Mouni Roy who is screaming most of the time. There could a be a bit more toned down acting.

2. Storyline. The story telling could be a bit more engaging. It is at the beginning but lost track on the way.

3. Charector Development. The charector development of Shiva seems a bit abrupt. On the other hand Alia is reduced to a mere supporting character, always relying on Ranbir to save the day. A typical representation of how Bollywood sees the heroin. When you name a character 'Isha', you should make it a bit more stronger.

4. To much faith on audience. Though I agree the movie acts as a build up for upcoming movies, it relies too much on the build up and not on developing the first one.

5. Writing. Some of the dialogues are very repetative and feeds the audience over and over. Also there are too much of romantic moments between Ranbir and Alia that can be avoided. The movie would have been focused on the main theme then.

Overall it is a one time watch for CGI if you don't expect much from the story.

This film copies the likes of marvel terminator and 1-2 other Hollywood films. The love story was rushed and not believable. The best parts of this film were SRK and Big B. The special fx were overdone. The story was rushed for something that took 10 years to make. Nice effort but it was a fail. This 2.75 hour film could've been a 2 hour film by dumping the crap musical numbers and the prolonged fight scenes. Alia and Ranbir are good actors who did not act well in this movie. Save your money and wait to stream it. I wonder if they'll spend another 10 years to make part 2. Ranbir had 2 flop comebacks this year.

Astraverse is a brilliant concept but executed very lazily. The over emphasis on love story leave the sour taste in audience's mind. The dialogues are so poor that it makes you why so much incompetence when there is so much money involved in this film. Acting of Alia is uneven. She is very good in some scenes but really cringey in others. This film was shot for years which makes me think that it got every shades of acting from Alia's career.

Now the positives.

The Cinematography is beautiful. Every shot is just amazing to look at. Even the VFX heavy scenes look beautiful, not cheap. The scale of the film is amazing. The acting dept is also bang on. Ranbir, Alia, nagarjuna, Amitabh, Mouni and a secret cameo star did their job very well for the material they were given.

VFX of this film is probably the best i have ever scene in an indian film. Even the 3D scenes were done very well. The music and score perfectly suited for the film. The songs were not boring. The Sanskrit slokas bgm was just so cool to listen. I am waiting for them to drop the whole album.

This film was directed by Ayan Mukherjee who did a fine job in crafting this film. This film was very well shot. From action choreography to beautiful visuals, everything was done very well.

However director should note down all the criticism and fix them in part 2. We want to see a better film which focuses more on Astraverse. Trim down the love story element. More elements should be taken from hindu mythology. Give Alia more things to do in this universe than just a romantic interest. She can do much more for the film. More cameos please.