The new Bollywood movie Ram Setu revolves around an archaeologist (played by Akshay Kumar) on a mission to investigate the existence of the ancient bridge of Rama, also geographically renamed Adam’s Bridge. The two-hour and twenty-four minutes feature explores his journey to blur the lines between myth and reality and bring forth the truth for the entire world. Abhisekh Sharma (Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, Tere Bin Laden) serves as writer and director of the project, while the music is composed by Daniel B. George (Andhadhun, 3 Idiots).
The rest of the cast includes Jacqueline Fernandez as Dr Sandra Rebello, Nushrratt Bharuccha as Professor Gayatri Kulshrestha, Aryan’s wife, Satyadev Kancharana as associate producer, Shubham Jaykar, Jeniffer Piccinato, Nassar and Pravesh Rana. Furthermore, the movie is produced by Arun Bhatia and Vikram Malhotra, under the banner of Cape of Good Films, Lyca Productions, Abduntia Entertainment and Prime Video.
-Ram Setu Review Contains No Spoilers-
The film starts with an atheist archaeologist Aryan Kulshrestha (played by Akshay Kumar), who finds the remains of an ancient Hindu treasure (hidden in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan) and becomes successful in retrieving it.
The dedicated explorer is promoted to a higher rank and rewarded with another controversial report about the history of Ram Setu. However, he is forced to write a full-fledged survey report about the bridge of Rama without any due research, so it is solely influenced by his belief system.
Aryan faces backlash for his pro-atheist conclusion and is turned into a subject of mockery and insult by the common public. Therefore, when a rich businessman goes out of his way to fund a deep sea Ram Setu survey, Aryan decides to redeem himself with the facts.
The film has an interesting premise and an even better subject matter to start with. However, the constant focus on scoring political points spoils what could have been a genuinely intriguing movie. The flick starts with an opening act that feels like a wanna-be Indian Jones film and later succumbs into a weak courtroom drama towards the end. This unconvincing arc of the movie is made worse by the plain performance of the protagonist.
As a fan of Akshay Kumar’s classic comedies, it feels really disappointing when you witness a straight dialogue delivery pattern from an actor who can do much more. This could have been a redemption-enriched movie for the actor inside Akshay Kumar (with enough space for characterisation and strong moments), but it ends up like his usual efforts in modern-day commercial films. Also, apart from the enthusiastic guide AP (played by Satyadev Kancharana), there is no room for the rest of the cast to grow or leave an impact.
There are many loose elements in the story, layered with a common tone of artificiality. Followed by a series of bad VFX that doesn’t do any form of justice to the scale of the movie. Moreover, the only intriguing parts of the film are its deep sea exploration scenes, which are synced with a fine soundtrack.
In the first half, the film also tries to showcase the unjust hate received by an Atheist from extremely religious members of society by pointing out several hypocrisies of the system and its orthodox occupants. However, it converts the Athiest into a believer as a central theme, with zero to little conviction.
Ram Setu Final Thoughts
The movie could have been a genuine feast for fans of culture and mythology, given its fascinating theme. But the end product is a repetitive attempt of commercial cinema to pinpoint agendas while ignoring the story value of the film.
You can watch the movie exclusively in theatres this Diwali and also stream other Akshay Kumar movies on Amazon Prime Video. Let us know your thoughts about the adventure action flick in the comment section below.
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3.5 star
I saw this movie today ,find it quite good i thik must watch movie 3.5 star from my side