![]() ![]() ![]() In this picturesque setting along the Tennessee River, as Federal troops scaled the heights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, one Confederate general beheld a scene “grand and imposing in the extreme.” Here Lincoln found the winning combination, the men who would lead his armies to ultimate victory-Grant, William T. Grant, who directed the relief of the beleaguered garrison and, with the help of reinforcements from Virginia and Mississippi, turned a possible disaster into a stunning victory-a victory that opened the door to the Deep South and sealed the Confederacy’s doom. A desperate Lincoln now turned to the hero of Vicksburg, General U. But just as complete victory in the West appeared imminent, General Braxton Bragg’s reinforced Rebel army struck back at Chickamauga, driving the Federal invaders into Chattanooga, where they were soon besieged. The important railroad center offered a gateway to the Confederate heartland. President Lincoln and his advisors now focused attention on the small town of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Again, there’s no meat to his character.In the summer of 1863, Federal forces scored major victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, turning the tide of war in favor of the Union. Amitabh Bachchan plays Guru, a Gandalf-Dumbledore type person who is the leader of the Brahmansh. Other characters like Nagarjuna’s Anish Shetty too come and go without involving you emotionally in their fate. Though you watch these without any suspense or sense of urgency, they still make for good entertainment. The action sequences are choreographed and executed well. In Brahmastra, Shiva and Isha are always professing their love for each other but you never quite get the depth of their feelings. It’s also because you feel Bheem’s pressing need to rescue Malli and take her home. Take Rajamouli’s RRR – that marvellous interval block works not only because of how wild it is in imagination. You can see the makers’ effort to constantly have you drop your jaw to the floor with the visual effects, but since we never empathise with the characters on screen, it remains a distant spectacle. Everything happens in the context of the rather plain and uninteresting love story and this drags down the pace of the film. In Brahmastra, Shiva has apparently known for a while that fire cannot harm him but it has never occurred to him to figure out why or experiment with it. Under what circumstances does it work and to what extent? How can it be controlled or destroyed? In the Malayalam superhero film Minnal Murali, for instance, we have those hilarious scenes with the protagonist testing out his powers in a small village – from breaking doors to holding up the ceiling fan. It’s not only the character who is gleaning more information about how this power works, it’s also the audience. Someone should do a thesis on how orphans have been used in Indian cinema as a plot device to make people fall in love.Īmong the most important sequences in a fantasy series is the point when the hero discovers their superhuman powers and tests them out. She’s leaving for a party but ends up accompanying him to a birthday party in his place – for an orphan child. In their first conversation, Isha asks Shiva, “Who are you?” A besotted Shiva responds with “What are you?” Till the end, we don’t get an answer for either. The characterisation never goes beyond this. He’s a lower middle class orphan with a golden heart she’s a rich young woman. The romance between Shiva (Ranbir Kapoor) and Isha (Alia Bhatt) is an old school, chaste romance set in the contemporary world and as a result, the actors themselves don’t look too convinced about it. And his eyes fall on a beautiful young woman with a rose demurely tucked behind her ear. The visual effects are magnificent and just as you allow yourself to be mesmerised, the film cuts to Mumbai where its actual hero is worshipping in a Durga temple. Mohan is under attack from Junoon (Mouni Roy, who is styled in black clothes and a big silver nose stud to emphasise her villainy), the Queen of Darkness, who wants a piece of the Brahmastra which is in his possession. With his charm and comic timing, SRK easily draws you into the world of Brahmastra. 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. The most powerful of these astras is the Brahmastra which was broken into three pieces 30 years ago. 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. ![]()
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