Ram setu movie review

There's a scene in Ram Setu where a character calls Aryan Kulshreshtha (Akshay Kumar) ' Sri Ram ka sabse accha vakeel'. If only writer-director Abhishek Sharma had steered clear of lethargic writing and added some 'thrills', the action-adventure film would have given the audience enough reasons to nod their heads in agreement with the character. Story Ram Setu opens in Bamiyan, Afghanistan in 2007 where Aryan Kulshreshtha (Akshay Kumar), a renowned archaeologist is a part of a subcontinental team of experts deployed to excavate the remnants of a Buddhist site destroyed by the Taliban. While digging deep, Aryan stumbles upon an ancient treasure box, only to be interrupted by the Taliban going 'bang-bang'. While dodging the bullets, he and a fellow Pakistani archaeologist stumble upon a reclining Buddha in a nearby cave. Their discoveries earn them praises and Aryan graciously offers his findings to the neighbouring country. "Dharm sirf todta hai, sanskriti jodta hai," he proudly exclaims when a journo quizzes him about being an atheist. Aryan's achievements land him a promotion and he is appointed as the Joint Director General of a fictional Archaeological Society of India. Elsewhere in Rameshwaram, a shipping tycoon Indrakanth (Nasser) wants to demolish Ram Setu to shorten the route which is to be taken by one of his fuel-guzzling ships. Keeping in mind Aryan's lack of belief in religion, Indrakanth ropes him to establish 'evidence' that Ram Setu is not man-made but has be...

Director: Abhishek Sharma Star cast: Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Satya Dev, Nasser Bollywood Bubble ratings: 3/5 stars Ram Setu Movie Review: Touching the concept of religion or faith in Indian cinema is always a risky move and it has been proven time and again. You never know whom you might end up hurting with your take on it but in today’s socio-political scenario, if your film aims to glorify Hindu culture, you know it is also a sure-shot formula for success, and it’s somewhere on those lines that Akshay Kumar-starrer Ram Setu lies. Telling the story of an archaeolcogist who is given the task of proving whether Ram Setu is man-made or exists naturally, the film poses the question of progress vs faith, and if they can co-exist, through an adventurous journey. The makers promised this adventure to be epic, but it falls short on it due to poor technical aspects, a poorly executed pre-climax and a climax that is too information-heavy and a little preachy. Ram Setu is indeed a unique attempt in telling an Indiana Jones style of an adventure story, emerging from Indian mythology, and the makers succeed in making sure to do that to a certain extent, but it’s the amateur or plain bad CGI that plays a spoilsport. Call it the Brahmastra effect or anything, Indian audience is now privy to good visual affects in our films, so just over a month later if a film comes that relies heavily on its CGI and they do a shoddy work, it will be complained about. Th...

Synopsis: Is Ram Setu a myth or reality? An archaeologist (Akshay Kumar) must decode the origins of the mythical India-Sri Lanka underwater bridge, believed to be built by Lord Rama. Review: Ram Setu comes across like a toothpaste ad where random actors dressed in white aprons assure you that their toothpaste is dentist recommended. The ‘doctor ki suno’ strategy is to convince people about the product’s scientific benefits and claims. Ram Setu does pretty much the same. It puts together characters parading as scientists, environmentalists, experts in archaeology with only one intention —they must acknowledge, approve and propagate the legacy of Shree Ram and Ram Setu (mythical bridge between India and Sri Lanka) as part of history and not mythology. Since these characters believe in science over sanskriti and aastha, the director wants you to know that they are no bhakts so there’s no bias. Leading the atheist-turned-believer brigade is Dr Aaryan, a 50-something Akshay Kumar with a millennial name. Styled like an ageing Brad Pitt in homeless chic, Aaryan is a renowned archaeologist, known for his excavation in Afghanistan. He graciously hands over an ancient treasure box to the neighbouring country and reiterates India-Afg-Pak unity against the Taliban. He announces, “Hum Afghanistan ko unki khoi hui virasat lautane aaye hai.” He also keeps repeating, “I am a man of facts and history. I only believe what can be proven.” Accused of blasphemy, he is taunted, “Iss desh mein j...

Express News Service “What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence,” wrote Christopher Hitchens in God Is Not Great. It is a quote I half-expected to stream forth from the mouth of Dr Aryan Kulshrestha (Akshay Kumar), an atheist archaeologist obsessed with ‘facts’ and ‘hard evidence’ in Abhishek Sharma’s Ram Setu. No soap. Aryan has no use for the Hitchen’s razor (or any razor, given his splendidly fuzzy white whiskers). He’s an atheist in the same way certain Amitabh Bachchan characters in the 70s and 80s were atheists: as a set-up for a turnabout further ahead. This film about the origins of the Ram Setu—a 48-km chain of shoals between India and Sri Lanka that many believe is the eponymous bridge mentioned in the Ramayana—opens, befuddlingly, in Afghanistan, after Taliban forces have destroyed the Bamyan Buddha statues. Aryan, joining a crack team of foreign archaeologists, is researching there when they’re set upon by more terrorists. Aryan escapes—but not before retrieving a chest of ancient coins linked to the reign of Dahir of Ahor, the last Hindu king of Sindh. “Religion divides but culture unites,” he later says, sagely, at a press conference. How wonderful! How secular! Surely the headlines back home will agree? Returning to India, Aryan wades into controversy, and, to make matters worse, is made the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India. There he prepares (or is forced to prepare) a report challenging the historici...

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence,” wrote Christopher Hitchens in God Is Not Great. It’s a quote I half-expected to stream forth from the mouth of Dr Aryan Kulshrestha (Akshay Kumar), an atheist archaeologist obsessed with ‘facts’ and ‘hard evidence’ in Abhishek Sharma’s Ram Setu. No soap. Aryan has no use for the Hitchen’s razor (or any razor, given his splendidly fuzzy white whiskers). He’s an atheist in the same way certain Amitabh Bachchan characters in the 70s and 80s were atheists: as a set-up for a turnabout further ahead. Cast: Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Satyadev Kancharana, M Nassar This film about the origins of the Ram Setu—a 48-km chain of shoals between India and Sri Lanka that many believe is the eponymous bridge mentioned in the Ramayana—opens, befuddlingly, in Afghanistan, after Taliban forces have destroyed the Bamyan Buddha statues. Aryan, joining a crack team of foreign archaeologists, is researching there when they’re set upon by more terrorists. Aryan escapes — but not before retrieving a chest of ancient coins linked to the reign of Dahir of Ahor, the last Hindu king of Sindh. “Religion divides but culture unites,” he later says, sagely, at a press conference. How wonderful! How secular! Surely the headlines back home will agree? Returning to India, Aryan wades into controversy, and, to make matters worse, is made the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. There...