Brahmāstra Trailer: Vertiginously Vibrant

There is a startling grandiosity to the trailer of  Brahmāstra , a debt-defying epic quality, and I do mean ‘debt’. For all those of us who thought this over-the-top way-too-ambitious-for-its-own-good film was going to topple over under the weight of its top-heaviness, the trailer is sufficient proof of the opposite.

It is epic in design and restrained but ravishing in execution. Director Ayan Mukerjee wraps his vision around a concept that is as ancient as the pauranic myths. Here he is more a Rajamouli  disciple than a Karan Johar  protégé.

Brahmāstra looks rich, and I mean that in the most positive way. For the first time in an Indian film I see special effects that do us proud and place us on a par with international super-hero films. Yes, the spectacle hurled in our faces is of a global calibre, no doubt about it. But this is no wannabe second-cousin of Marvel’s meta-verse.

Ayan Mukerjee seems to have created a unique metaverse, what he called an ‘astraverse’ based on our shastras. Ranbir Kapoor, back after 2018’s horrendously inappropriate biopic Sanju, is boyishly charming as Shiva who has super-powers that he doesn’t know about. One of them is to woo the lovely Alia Bhatt . The best thing I like about the vertiginously vibrant trailer is the chemistry between the newly married real-life couple Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. They look more made-for-each-other than any other recent couple, Ranveer-Deepika included.

My favorite moment in the trailer is when Alia asks Ranbir, ‘Kaun ho tum?’

His answer: ‘KYA ho tum?’

I have the same question for the architects of this film:  what is this? We have never seen anything like Brahmāstra before. It is tempestuous and tactile. It recalls the ancient scriptures but it is also very contemporary in flavour, especially in the way  Ranbir projects his character as a harbinger of traditional religious beliefs and yet a man of the moment on his own trip.

The Bachchan baritone (the actor also plays one of the lead’s in the film) confers a voiceover to the trailer where he explains the importance of the three elements: wind fire and water. Happily, the visual element dominates the trailer. Interestingly Ranbir plays a man who is immune to fire-burns. We copy that. Fire-proof heroism has its roots in Stephen King. Brahmāstra was always a do-or-die project. But the trailer shows the endeavour soaring beyond all our cynicism to hoist a flag at a summit of spectacle never seen before in our cinema. Will Brahmāstra be the success that its staggering production values demand?

I would say, yes. The audience today after Covid wants laughter and spectacle, not necessarily in that order. Brahmāstra seems equipped to give its audience the experience of a lifetime.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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