There are certain films that are pure entertainment with heart warming messages, Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva has these plus superheroes, Indian mythology, and great singing and dancing! It is written and directed by Ayan Mukerji whose previous film was Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. This is part of the Astraverse with other movies in this trilogy. The runtime of the film is two hours and forty-seven minutes and the pacing and characters is perfect so I didn’t notice as much as other movies.
The beginning has an explosion, the Big Bang?, that has a narrator explain that a group of sages were at the top of the Himalayas and given the divine light, Brahm-Shakti. We see them in illustrated form, very comic book-likeThey are given weapons called Astras; fire, water, wind, and "birds and animals." They are thrown back by a powerful astra, the sages struggle to control it, and then emerged the lord of all Astras, Brahmāstra. The sages call themselves the Brahmānsh and passing the Astras through generations in secret until we see antique photos. Then, there is beautiful, colored silhouettes of Astras and they were forgotten.
This moves to the present day in Mumbai, it is the time of Dussehra and a young man in a red shirt runs in to prey, the narrator dramatically says his name, Shiva! He closes his eyes and sees visions that led to a building in Delhi. We find The Scientist, played by Indian cinema legend, Shah Rukh Khan, the film I remember him well was Ashoka the Great (2001). A dark figure has watched him and drops down to demand a piece he was examining.
He says his name is Mohan and is confronted by two brute types whom Mohan names, the quick cheetah-like Raftaar (Rohollah Ghazi) and Zor (Saurav Gurjar) with the power of a hippo. The Scientist uses his power, activated by Vanarastra with the quickness of a monkey. He tries to escape leaping upwards to roar as the monkey, but is seen by Junoon (Mouni Roy), she has the dark temptress look about her, and is known as Passion. She is a deadly, relentless villainess. They are joined by the other two and Junoon takes control of the Scientist with red lashes.
He is resisting Junoon and says, “The Light is coming”, the dark building is filled with the dawn's light, which turns to a temple attended by Shiva (Ranbir Kapoor). I like that he is not an overbuff action hero, but looks like an ordinary guy. He sees across the temple a beautiful woman (Alia Bhatt). She played Sita in RRR: Rise Roar Revolt (2022). She inspires him to sing “Dance Ka Bhoot” during the Dussehra festival, but it is just stunning to see the number of dancers.
This goes into the night where he promotes himself as DJ Shiva. He is on a platform of drums when the pyrotechnic arrow is loosed from the statue of Ram to ignite the Ravana statue. Shiva is stunned to see it overhead and then watches the burning statue. He sees the woman smile, but the Ravana statue is covered with supernatural flames that explodes in the night sky and Shiva faints. His friends waken him and Shiva says he was dancing too much, but then mentions seeing the woman and says he will see her again.
At a club, he spins his music and then his friends want him to leave for a party. Shiva leaps over the turntable to follow the woman. She enters a packed elevator and Shiva climbs around it until he can talk to her. The woman says, “Click” which she explains is to “remember this moment.” I think this line is perfect. Her cousin, Shaina (Rashi Mal), reveals her name, Isha, and tries to pull her away with another cousin, Sunny (Rohan Rustomji).
Isha invites him to a Dwali party, the Festival of Lights, celebrated for five days in October. This is literally a festival of light over darkness. She is taken back when he doesn’t invite her to his party mentioned by his friends. Shiva explains that he was embarrassed because he sees that she is high class and his party would be slumdog. She agrees to attend the party which she discovers is a happy birthday for a kid at an orphanage where Shiva also lives. Later, at his room, he mentions he says about his mother, “She’s a goddess like all mothers.”
Shiva tells her that his mother left him a conch shell. He gets a vision of The Scientist forced to reveal the Protector of the Second Piece, The Artist. He is Anish Shetty (Nagarjuna Akkineni) in Varanasi. Mohan refuses to tell anything more to Junoon and slams backwards shattering the glass wall to fall down the building! Shiva awakens again having fainted and is told by the children that Isha waited two hours before leaving. Fortunately, one of the kids is Facebook friends with Isha.
She is preparing a temple for Dwali and Shiva finds out about the death of Mohan Bhargav, not a dream! Isha is there and looks up on a computer that Anish is at a heritage palace restoration project. Shiva is headed to Varanasi and Isha is set on going with him. They take a crowded river boat, take a Titanic pose at the bow, and Shiva sings the love song, “Kesariya” where he tells Isha that “saffron is the color of your love.” Yes, the songs are memorable and catchy. They pay respects at a temple, it turns to night on a boat, and Shiva then has fire trailing on the water to him! He is disturbed to reveal his secret, but Isha only wants him to tell her the truth.
This is an important connection for his agniastra power. They find Anish at a crowded ceremony for the project and also the assassins are there! Shiva convinces him to sneak away. Isha cleverly interrupts Kor asking him for his cell phone since her batteries are used up! She is later faced by an assassin with a gun. Shiva leaps down and begins a fight being thrown around by Raftaar. Anish uses his bright power to shatter the floor with his bracelet. They escape in a BMW to find the Guru in the Himalayas!
Anish uses his astra, the Nandi Astra, giving him the power of a bull! We find out later that the Guru, Raghu, is played by another legend, Amitabh Bachchan! He was in Baz Luhrman’s film, The Great Gatsby (2013). The best part of the movie was walking out with a feel-good, positive feeling! Shiva has to discover his destiny and power, deal with united the pieces of the Brahmānstra that may cause the destruction of the world, taking on the assassins while finding romance with Isha who is connected to all of it! Brahmānstra: Part One - Shiva has an epic combination of Avengers: Endgame (2019), West Side Story (2021), Harry Potter films, with a touch of Indian mythology and a first rate cast!
Five Astras out of Five!
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