CAST: Akshay Kumar, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Nassar, Satya Dev Kancharana, Jacqueline Fernandez & Pravesh Rana
DIRECTOR: Abhishek Sharma
Ram Setu is an attempt to reiterate the unfounded theory that the limestone shoals that connect the Pamban and Munnar islands are part of a man-made structure and not a natural phenomenon.
In this unbelievable premise that mixes myth, religion, belief, faith and pass it off as reality.
Dr Aryan Kulshrestha (Kumar) is an archeologist who only believes in evidence-based science, and has no time for anyone, including his wife (Nushrratt Bharuccha), a professor of literature. He is heartbroken by the destruction of the Bamyan Budhha by the Taliban (apparently he was on site when it occurred), and now is a part of the Ram Setu project as an expert. He has secular credentials and to prove that they even position him with a Pakistani colleague for effect. So who could be better than him to tell the unbelievers that the bridge, was in fact, ‘constructed’ during the ‘period’ of Lord Rama.
In a Mera Bharat Mahaan mission, Ram Setu sets out to establish that the limestone shoals that connect the Pamban and Munnar islands are part of a man-made structure and not a work of nature.
Politically, there has been a controversy around the Sethusamudram Project and Pushkar Bhatnagar’s little-known 2003 book where the writer attempted to date the era of Lord Ram on the basis of planetary positions described in Valmiki’s Ramayan. Here, the consultant to the movie, scholar and director Chandraprakash Diwedi tries to connect faith and science, between myth and oral history, and between religion and culture which culminates in a lecture on preserving cultural pride in an ultra nationalistic tone.
Having set up the basic premise, the movie then deviates into a sub-plot of some baddies trying to destroy the bridge. Then, a good guy KP turns up without any notice to help Aryan and his colleagues, scientist Sandra Ribello (Fernandez) and a white person who is just a screen embellishment, we guess. The chief baddie just sits around frowning and his main guy runs around the screen chasing everyone with a gun.
For some reason they bring the Jaffna reference and the Sri Lankan civil war into reference as well but we fail to figure out why?
The whole core of the story it to show a secular, scientifically disposed person turn into a believer. And we are supposed to celebrate that conversion.
The VFX are a joke and the entire scene where he walks on water is incredulous.
This movie is another Akshay Kumar attempt to please nationalistic viewpoints and is such a shabby attempt that we don’t know how much more the standards of logic can be dropped.
