“Earth”,
“Fire” and “Water”, an invocation of the basic constituents of life were used
as storytelling devices to lay out the India narrative in Indian-Canadian
director Deepa Mehta’s “Elements” trilogy. “Brahmastra”, Ayan Mukherji’s telling
of an epic Indian myth nearly two decades later, begins with a similar
invocation in Amitabh Bachchan’s voice. Bachchan invokes “Jal” (water), “Vayu”
(air) and “Agni” (fire) to introduce the audience to Shiva, Ranbir Kapoor’s character. The
trailer of “Brahmastra” landed on the world wide web Wednesday.

The
“Bhramastra” trailer is in many ways Bollywood’s attempt to articulate the
mythical, massive, epic expanse of Indian civilisation’s multifarious tensions.
The fundamentals of story, however, are drawn heavily from the superhero
universe films made in Hollywood, with a frequent tip of the hat to the “Bahubali”
films.

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From
the title, we understand that “Brahmastra” is the beginning of a multi-part
film. The entire title reads: “Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva”. Shiva’s story is
Ranbir Kapoor’s narrative. The champion of mainstream Hindi coming-of-age
films, Kapoor, in the trailer fails to surprise. As director-actor associations
go, Ayan Mukherji and Ranbir Kapoor are two peas in a pod. And Mukherji, at
least in the trailer, fails to imagine Ranbir in a new light.

Bachchan’s
voiceover tells us that the story is about “Brahmastra” and of a young man who
is unaware that he is the “Sikander” of the fate of “Brahmastra”. Sikander is
the Persianisation of the name Alexander – a reference to Alexander the Great,
the Greek conqueror. Mukherji’s use of “Sikander” is perhaps simply to say “champion”.

But
the name of a Greek conqueror to explain an Indian articulation of fundamental
forces of nature shows how Bollywood remains blind to context and invokes an
imperialist to cast the image of a primary constitutive entity of earth. In the
land of “Mahakavya”, Mukherji’s “Brahmastra” can only resemble an epic.  

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In
frame after frame, of which there are many in the trailer, Ranbir Kapoor
appears the same. The dance steps are the same, the way he looks at his apparent
romantic interest (Alia Bhatt) is the same, and in many cases, the cinematic
frames are indistinguishable from any other Ranbir Kapoor film. Kapoor’s dance
in front of a temple immediately reminds one of the inimitable Dhanush in “Raanjhnaa,”
a film with a very different scope and purpose.

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The
film, which took over half a decade to make, uses CGI to the hilt. Graphically
immense, the trailer however, does not promise a story that’s not typical of
Bollywood. Studded with stars – Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna, and even Shah Rukh
Khan in a cameo, the film seeks to Disneyfy Bollywood, instead of telling an
Indian story. The fractures between Indian narratives and Bollywood’s
stylisations remain apparent all through the three-minute trailer.

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From
what we learn of the story, we know that there are some old forces of power, many
of good and one dark, that seek control over the world. It’s the age-old
tradition versus modernity argument told through an epic lens and an apocalyptic
threat. Mouni Roy, as the force of darkness, appears as stilted as an evening
Indian television soap actress. While massive in scope, the “Brahmastra”
trailer is limited in imagination.