Boy meets girl. Girl falls for boy. Boy discovers he’s got a hazardous superpower and is called away to save the world from a burgeoning evil. This isn’t the usual formula for a
romantic comedy, nor is it typical for Indian cinema, which roots itself in ancient mysticism and mythology. Yet that’s what makes writer-director Ayan Mukerji’s sprawling epic “Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva” special and innovative. He smashes up genre conventions as Western cinematic influences readily comingle with pure Bollywood razzle-dazzle.
And though the story is occasionally overcomplicated and the spectacle excites and exhausts in equal measure (as even Marvel movies do), it’s a wildly entertaining jump start to a planned trilogy – touted as Bollywood’s first original cinematic universe, the “Astraverse.
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