Brahmastra: Part One Shiva. A Valiant effort with top notch visuals and Mythological references.

The cinematic universe of Brahmastra is built around a secret society of rishis – known as the Brahmansh – who possess the powers to control different astras. The most powerful of these astras is the Brahmastra which was broken into three pieces 30 years ago. The film opens in comic book style, setting up the premise, and then breaking into a very enjoyable cameo from Shah Rukh Khan who plays Mohan Barghav, a scientist in possession of the vanarastra. With his charm and comic timing, SRK easily draws you into the world of Brahmastra.

Brahmastra Story: Shiva, a young DJ in Mumbai, discovers that he’s born with a special power that makes him immune and akin to fire. He gradually discovers the secrets behind his own existence that are also tied to a string of mythological incidents. How that changes the course of his life forms the rest of the narrative.

Young, orphaned DJ, Shiva (Ranbir Kapoor), leads a happy life, full of light, around a bunch of orphaned kids. His special connection with fire - it doesn’t inflame him - and a host of visuals that appear before him periodically when he shuts his eyes, suck him into a world of superpowers. While there’s a mythological background to this, it also, gradually, connects Shiva to the story of his parents, which changes the course of his life. His search for love and light puts him on the path to destroy evil forces and discover his true potential.

With comic-book-styled visuals, and Amitabh Bachchan’s baritone, the film sets up its premise and the origin of its universe in an interesting manner.

Brahmastra: Part One: Shiva relies heavily on two aspects - its visual effects and the love story of its lead pair, Shiva and Isha, played by Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. The film scores a great deal on visual effects. It’s well-thought out, top-notch and effective in most places. For instance, the culmination of the pre-interval scenes is a spectacle.

The film borrows from Indian mythology and folk tales, which is fantastic. The effort and passion invested in creating the universe in this film, replete with minute detailing, are worthy of appreciation.

The film shines in divisions like the VFX. The film’s colour palette has been created thoughtfully, and the depiction of the astras created out of the powers of nature and mythological characters is beautiful.

The action choreography, especially in the chase sequence before interval, deserves whistles and claps, too.

Watching artistes like Nagarjuna and Amitabh Bachchan playing pivotal parts to the perfection is a delight, but not much of a surprise. They’ve done it a zillion times before. Nagarjuna in his limited screen time is quite effective. And Mr Bachchan appears comfortable in the skin of his character, performing action scenes with ease. Ranbir’s effort to add emotional gravitas to the proceedings is visible. He tries really hard to take the audience beyond the superficial layers of this film with the way he’s played out Shiva.

Though many people are disappointed on the love story shown between lead couple Shiva and Isha. As they were expecting Marvel like action. Brahmastra is based on mythology and first part is about Shiva, so the love story is very well relevant. It has reference to Lord Shiva and Parvati connection.

The romance between Shiva (Ranbir Kapoor) and Isha (Alia Bhatt) is an old school, chaste romance set in the contemporary world. I loved how at some points the reference of Lord Shiva and Parvati is obvious and at certain points it is subtle.

One of the instances to quote here is when Shiva asked Isha, " meine tumhe isliye invite nahi kia kyuki tum Ameer ho, kya tum meri party me aana pasand karogi? " It clearly reminds me of Parvati proposal to Lord Shiva and he explaining her that he doesn't have anything and he lives in mountains whereas she is a princess.

Another instance where I feel the same reference was when first time Isha holds his hand, Shiva sees the fire (Agni Astra) approaching him. On numerous other occasions too, whenever Isha is with Shiva, he is mindful of his power as if the message was Shiv-Shakti together are the most powerful.

Third one, whenever Shiva closes his eyes, he can clearly predict or see the events which others can't see just like Lord Shiva who can see anything even with closed eyes.

Fourth one, his superpower is also his fear, due to the backstory and also the fear of losing Isha. "Yeh aag Kahi Isha ko jala na de" has reference to Sati, fire and Shiva's pain.

Fifth one, in one of the dialogue Shiva when asked about his parents says, "Naa mere aage koi hai aur naa peeche".

To talk about dialogues, i have read few reviews where people have said, dialogues are cringy, i want to say either they haven't watched the film or haven't understood the context in which such dialogues were said.

"Light woh Roshni ka naam hai, mere liye light yeh music hai, yeh Anaath bache hai, Maa Durga hai.

Numerous dialogues have reference to Shakti over and over again is an indication and reference towards Shiv-Shakti power. Without Shiva Shakti is nothing and vice-versa.

Also, I am tired of reading reviews, it does not follow "Show don't tell", it's only tell tell and no show.

Let me clarify this, there are certain instances where Guru Raghav (AB) narrates story about who is Deva and Amrita. He is only telling, if entire thing was shown now, what will be shown in part 2 whose name is "Deva" Whatever was "told" in this, will be shown in the second part in a detailed manner.

It is a trilogy we have to understand and each part will certainly be connected to the other one.

Remarks:- People are unnecessary bashing it by saying they have shown the love story instead of Action. The love story is the crux of the plot in Part 1.

God Bless those who are unnecessary bashing this valiant effort by makers.