Mirai, Review: Rod of the Rings v/s Sword of the Rings

Mirai, Review: Rod of the Rings v/s Sword of the Rings

If this film makes good money, the makers can rue over the fact that the plot took off when the villain was trying to get possession of the seventh book of scriptures, out of nine, which would impart magic and, ultimately, godliness and immortality, and ended with his attempt at acquiring the ninth and last one. Well, they could have made nine films instead of one, and earned nine times over. Mirai is another instalment in what is now an open franchise. Pick any period, from the times of Lord Rama, or even earlier, to any time in the present, or future, and unleash mayhem and gore of the most extreme kind. Lord Rama is said to have lived in the ancient Treta Yug, a mythological period in Hindu cosmology that predates the current Kali Yug (or Kalyug) by millions of years. However, some modern interpretations and claims, based on astronomical data or specific genealogies, place his birth around 5114 BCE (courtesy AI).

Mirai begins with the Battle of Kalinga, a brutal war, fought around 261 BCE, between the Mauryan Empire, led by Emperor Ashoka, and the independent kingdom of Kalinga (present-day Odisha). Ashoka won the battle, but the immense death toll, estimated at over 100,000 lives, profoundly affected him. This devastating loss caused Ashoka to abandon his policy of military conquest, embrace Buddhism, and, instead, promote a path of peace and righteousness. Mirai tells you that Ashoka won this war with the help of divine strength. Having turned to non-violence, he did not know what to do with his divine gifts, so he split them into nine tomes. These king-size volumes were hidden in various places, in India and other countries, including Morocco and Japan, and caretakers were appointed, who protected them, beginning 261 BCE, to 2024, from falling into the wrong hand(s). They were safe in their hidden locations, for 75 to 105 generations. But, in 2024, a man, who was evil personified, decided to gain possession of them, and use them for himself. Now, if you suspend your disbelief and accept this as a credible beginning, you will lap-up the rest of the plot quite easily.

There are too many characters in Mirai, which is a pre-requisite in any mythological or super-hero film, many of them in similar attire and get-up, as sadhus. So, it is difficult to remember their names. However, these are some of the key players. There is a pregnant woman named Ambika, who, in the year 2000, gets a divine revelation that the villain, after acquiring the other 8, will come to steal the 9th scripture, which is hidden in India. We are not told anything about her background and who is the father of her child she is carrying. However, she is told by some priests that her yet-to-be born son will stop the run of the villain, 24 years later. But she will have to let him go his way till then, and give her own life as well, immediately after birth, in order to protect an entire community from turning into stone, thanks to a teenage villain’s guile.

Her son is the hero, Veda, who is born in Varanasi, grows-up as a vagabond and is guided by shooting stars, which show him where to head next, from Kolkata to Hyderabad. He has two hangers-on as friends, and leads the life of a Robin Hood, saving innocents and punishing criminals. His extremist ways attract the attention of the police, who start following him. For many a year, he is unaware of being the chosen one, and one day, destiny will lead him to a charmed rod, Mirai, which will turn into a powerful weapon in his hands. ‘Destiny’ chases him in the shape of Vibha, a mysterious woman, whose mission is to convince Veda about his divine status and lead him to the rod. Veda falls in love with Vibha, and, after some misgivings, agrees to follow her instructions.

Mahaveer, alias Lama, is the very personification of evil. Victimised, picked-upon and abused as a pre-teenager, he kills all those who harmed or humiliated him. Then, still a little boy, he burns down the whole village, killing all its inhabitants. While the village is burning behind him, a sadhu appears and asks him what happened. He replies that his parents have died in the fire and he is now an orphan. The sadhu shows no concern about the fire, but adopts him, and teaches him various forms of tantra/magic, consisting of chants that have ethereal powers. He grows up under the tutelage of the sadhu, who chooses him over his own son to protect the sacred book, which is in his custody. But when he sees Mahaveer using his divine powers in performing evil deeds, he entrusts the responsibility of protecting the book to his own son. Infuriated at being bypassed, the teenager goes away, swearing vengeance. This part is shown in flashback.

In real-time, we see Lama as a grown-up man, who only has to stretch out his palm to attract deadly weapons to land there, for him to wield. These include a black super-sword that appears and disappears as needed. He attacks the Japanese protectors, who mock him, only to be decimated, and lose the 7th scripture. Next, he lands in Morocco, where the population offers sajda (obeisance, in a kneeling position, as done in namaaz) to the book. The Moroccans, too, spout challenges, only to end up carved and eliminated, and the book gone. Now the demon is heading for the 9th tome, back in his own back-yard. Soon, it will be a battle between the black-sword and the charmed rod, both capable of forming rings that are impenetrable under any attack.

Writer-director-cinematographer Karthik Gattamneni, a Computer Science graduate with 12 years of experience as cinematographer, lets imagination and fantasy run riot. Such a wide time span, and about a dozen flash-backs, make it difficult for viewers to keep track of events. Yes, we learn that the ‘train’ started in the time of Lord Rama, and its destination is 2024, but we are totally confused by the stations where it halts, and by the back-tracking in between. By the way, there is actually a train sequence in the film, in which passenger Veda has to use the rod to stop it from falling over, at a gorge, where the villain has blown away the rails and, if not stopped in time, the train will plunge into the valley, killing all its passengers. To make it dramatic, he makes Veda plunge the rod into the ground, and keep dragging it along, for a hundred metres or more, with rapid inter-cutting, before it stops, at a literal cliff-hanger. What this tells you about the power of the rod is not flattering at all. One long scene, where Mahaveer unleashes his evil energy in trying to convert the entire population of a village into stone, is well-executed, with the Junior Artistes proving their worth. Having watched the movie in its Hindi (dubbed) version, it would be unfair to comment on the original Telugu dialogue, but there is little to commend in the Hindustani version.

Gattamneni leaves large holes in the narrative. Ambica and Vibha have no back-stories, which were required. How and why does a street urchin (Veda) turn into a gang battling crusader is never explained. Where was Mahaveer for about 20 years after running away from the ashram, what did he do, and why did he start looking for the scriptures only when he became 30+? Who was the chinky-faced woman learning martial arts at one stage, and then killing her teacher, possessing super-powers and super weapons, working for Lama? Why did the gods let Lama spread extermination around the world and kill hundreds/thousands, before it groomed Veda to take him on? How did Ashoka, a mortal king, acquire divine power, and why did it help him kill over 100,000 warriors? Why did he have to pack it in 9 scriptures, locating which would be like a treasure hunt? Could he not just relinquish the power?

Gattamneni also brings in a completely redundant police angle into a tale of make-believe, with a sad and failed attempt at creating comedy, out of a senior police officer, who is a coward! Do cowards reach high positions in the police force? And he does have a weakness for birds. One is like the long extinct Vorombe titan, a type of elephant bird, from Madagascar, standing nearly 10 feet tall and weighing up to 1,600 pounds. But here, the eagle/phoenix/Vorombe flies, whereas the real Vorombe could not. The other is courier pigeons. At least a dozen of them materialise, whenever needed, and carry written messages across thousands of kilometres.

As the confused Super Yoddha (warrior), Veda, Teja Sajja does look confused most of the time. Either the role has overwhelmed him or he is still learning the ropes. Teja, innocent-faced, is just about passable. Shriya Saran as Ambica is in fine mettle, and goes through many incredulous moments with conviction. Ritika Nayak, cast as Vibha, gets an ill-defined role, and carries an anguished expression almost throughout the film. As the demon, Lama/Mahaveer, Manoj Kumar Manchu is uni-dimensional and merely sneers through the length of the film. As his accomplice, German actress Tanja Keller is a powerhouse. It was nice to see old-timer RajendraNath Zutshi in a longish role, as a monk, but he is unnecessarily made to express false bravado. An actor to look out for is the teenager who plays Mahaveer in the ashram scenes. Both, his eyes and his body, exude a strong, rare, aggression, portending things to come.

It is a field day for the post production teams. Gattamneni employs riveting and imaginative animation for the mind-reading scenes of Vibha. A. Sreekar Prasad, the true veteran, is the editor, and he must have had a lot of say in what was left out in the final cut. Though 2 hours and 49 minutes sound too long for movies of this age, blood-baths, fierce-pierce, decapitation and amputation de rigueur, of the historical fiction variety, can hardly be shorter. As I said above, Gattamneni has made it much shorter than what it could have been. Just imagine the scenario if Lama was shown battling protectors from Volumes 1 to 6 too, instead of starting at 7! Hey, wait a minute! They can make a prequel, can’t they?

Maybe it is time to categorise all such films under one head, and allot numbers, instead of titles. Of course, the characters and actors, the adrenaline pumping action and epic battles, humans in flying fights, and other special effects, will be different each time. Yet, they all constitute a stereo-type that is, in essence, more of the same. In a tale of ‘spare the rod and lose the scripture’, Mirai, and about 100 films that came before it, are India’s answer to such milestones as Lord of the Rings franchise. Mirai administers a double dose: Rod of the Rings, and Sword of the Rings. Is the box-office bell of this Rs. 400 crore film ringing? Or is it ringing twice over?

Rating: **

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYnIQriEp_c