ARJUN NAIR

Watched it a few hours ago. Went with little to no expectations so really liked it! Imo the chemistry was fine but there was no buildup at all. But that was still ignorable. What sticks out as a sore thumb is some of the cringe dialogues and their dialogue delivery, sound really kiddish. Found the second half a lot better because they started focusing on the Brahmastra and the main plot a lot more. The cameos were great! All in all a visual treat and a great one time watch for sure. For a trilogy and a first proper superhero franchise, this is a good start. Watching this on OTT won't do any justice to this movie tbh, it's made to be a theatrical experience. There's no reason to boycott this movie in the first place, and we should instead support it because only then will India start making more superhero movies with great VFX. All in all: Story - 3/5 Dialogues - 2/5 Performances - 3/5 Songs and BGM - 3/5 VFX - 5/5

All I can say is if you've watched Charlie, you might not like this too much and will often find yourself comparing the two, just like I am, while typing this. Charlie and Tessa were more intriguing characters and had a better chemistry as well as compared to Maara and Paaru in my opinion. I liked the fact that they didn't copy paste the whole story from Charlie and even though the main storyline remains the same, there are considerable changes made to the subplots. The cinematography and visuals were equally good as Charlie. Madhavan was effortless as Maara and Shradhha Srinath also did well. However, Mouli is the star performer in this movie! There was something very special and magical about Charlie which feels missing in Maara which doesn't make it stand out. That being said, it is still a good watch if you don't factor in Charlie and is looked at from an individual standpoint, especially if you haven't watched Charlie. But unlike Charlie, this is not a film you would like to revisit.