What is “Writing the Astraverse” all about?

My name is Neel Kshetramade. I live and work in the Bay Area. Though my day job has absolutely nothing to do with it, my passion is in storytelling and understanding story structure. I am also a sci-fi and superhero movie geek, and love it when storytellers apply fantastical elements to genre story structures.

I have always wanted to write my own stories, and my dream is to see at least one of my stories come to life on the big screen.

Recently, I have been following the making and release of Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva, the first movie in a planned trilogy of movies, collectively titled “The Astraverse”. The story, the world of the Astras, and the characters are all the brainchild of one brilliant individual, the writer and director Ayan Mukerji.

Copyright : Dharma Productions

Part 1 is an origin story for Shiva, the protagonist and his love interest, Isha. The movie also has the task of setting up the world of the Astras and the Brahmansh and introducing the main conflict, which will be explored further in Parts 2 and 3. This is the first time a story at this scale has been attempted in Indian cinema, and I was excited to see how the makers would weave a coherent, engaging story that spanned multiple movies, set in a fantastical world where humans wielded divine weapons.

Ever since the trailer for the movie was released, I have been trying to piece the story together using the footage from the trailers. I wanted to get a working draft and then compare it to the plot from the actual movie. I saw the movie in theaters the day it was released, and came away with mixed feelings. I thought Part 1 was a strong, though predictable start to the trilogy. It does a workmanlike job of setting up the special world and introducing the hero, but it does it in a way that introduces many plot holes and weird narrative and character decisions.

Having seen the movie, I started out on this series of posts on what the movie is, where it fell short and how it could have done differently. I also want to take a stab at imagining Parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy, knowing what we know about the story from Part 1.

Here’s the planned list of articles I am working on. Check back often to see if any new articles have been posted!

1. Story Outline for Brahmastra Part 1 : Shiva
2. Plot Holes and Weird Character Decisions in Part 1
3. The Theme at the heart of the Brahmastra Trilogy
4. My Outline for Brahmastra Part 2 : Dev
5. My Outline for Brahmastra Part 3 : Brahmansh
6. Shiva’s Character Arc through the Trilogy
7. Dev’s Character Arc through the Trilogy
8. Isha’s Character Arc through the Trilogy

Following the complete Brahmastra Trilogy, there are other stories that can be told within the Astraverse. Examples:

1. Mohan Bhargav and the VanarAstra — this could be told as a thriller, a psycho-horror, an action adventure, or a romantic comedy.
2. The Nag Dhanush — Action adventure with a superhero who can fire nagas with different powers/effects in a crusade to fight evil.

Astra-Power Pyramid, from most powerful at the top to least at the bottom.

Since the Astras and their properties are not all clearly defined, there is unlimited scope to create stories in this space spanning genres.

Caveat : Apart from the story outline for Part 1 : Shiva, which I wrote after watching the released movie, all the other posts are original content, written by me. I am not affiliated in any way with the production, or the makers of the Astraverse/Brahmastra movies and have not received any advance information about the upcoming movies. My proposed outlines for Parts 2 and 3 are my predictions for where the story could go after Part 1. The actual movies may differ greatly from what I have proposed here.