Brahmastra was a visual feast, the first of its kind in Bollywood. Although the dialogues or the fact that it took mere 9 minutes for Isha to fall in love with Shiva made us cringe hard, the film was a visual spectacle that can truly be relished in theatres.
And while we commend Brahmastra for its exceptional job in terms of visual effects, the likes of which were never seen before in Bollywood, let’s look back at the times when Hindi movies gave us CGI and VFX so terrible that they were hilarious.
1. Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon
While the entire movie was a megadose of overacting, the CGI dog and the parrot were just the effing worst. Was it done for comic effect? Or was it a conscious creative choice? Each time that parrot screeched, ahh, it made my ears hurt. It was scary and annoying and existed for reasons unknown. Besides, there’s another part of the movie where they screwed up visuals pretty bad. Thanks to Pretentious Movie Reviews, I will always remember Pankaj Kapur as the ‘flying dad.’
2. Half Girlfriend
I won’t talk about that movie cos, spare me, it would hurt my brain but let’s just talk about the clearly fake Bill Gates they showed. Why? It was so disastrous. It made no sense, and it hurt my eyes. I’m not sure if the creators saw that Bill Gates sequence before they released the film. Who in their right mind would give a green flag to that? (That too in 2017)
3. Aabra Ka Daabra
I am a big-time Potterhead, and I did not want to see some Hari Puttar in what could possibly be the most terrible copy of Harry Potter. I was a little kid when this film was released, and I remember feeling sorry for myself — even back then — for watching this film in a theatre just because it was 3-D.
Not just for its cringe-worthy copy of Harry, Dumbledore, Hermione, Malfoy, and so on, the film scarred me more with its carpet Quidditch, horrible portraits, and over advertisement of Parle G and Camel. The Abra Ka Dabra: School Of Magic was everything Hogwarts was not – cringe, suffocating, and ridiculous.
4. Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi
In simple words, the plot of this movie is dead man meets God and returns to Earth to complete his unfulfilled work in the land so that his family can lead a happy life. Now add terrible visuals, and your film is complete. I think they thought that seeing the plot, people would get the movie is complete fiction, so why not make it as unrealistic as possible.
5. Chamatkar
Chamatkar comes from the golden 1990s when India was just beginning to fall in love with SRK. And while the film remains an evergreen entertainer for its simple-yet-amusing storyline, its special effects were pretty bad. However, the film was released three decades ago, so we can all forsake VFX for great acting and an amusing plotline.
6. Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani
I think the creators of Jaani Dushman had some foresight when they made this film. They saw the future and knew that soon memes would become a thing and their movie will become popular again. Because Jaani Dushman is still doing great when it comes to memes.
Not just with ridiculous dialogues and a bizarre plotline, the infamous film does its best (or worst) in visuals. The VFX is perfectly horrible. You see the image below? My eyes hurt!
7. Mohenjo Daro
Come to think of it, Mohenjo Daro was released in 2016, yet that infamous crocodile scene makes us wanna gauge our eyes out. The croc appeared, out of nowhere, like an angry bird and began leaping here and there. Good acting could not compensate for a terribly done VFX because the scene looked hilarious more than dreadful.
8. Nagina
No, I am not talking about Mouni Roy’s TV Show Naagin (although that would be hilarious) but Sridevi’s movie in 1986. By no means, we can be critiquing VFX used 36 years ago, but this article is not all about laughing but actually charting how far we’ve come. The VFX that would appear cringe and shoddy for today’s day and age gelled pretty well with the audience in Sridevi’s career-defining film.
9. Kalank
I don’t care how bad the movie was; I just can’t ever forget Varun Dhawan’s bullfight sequence. What was that? Did they really think people would not take a note? The entire film was such a lavish affair in terms of set and costumes that they could have spared a few bucks for a better special effects team. Felt like they wanted to add one cartoonish animated sequence for the bullfight scene, and then they forgot mid-way.
10. Rudraksh
You may be wondering why this film did not take the number spot. Well! I was saving the best (or worst) for the last. Rudraksh is all about cringe dialogues and a bizarre plotline. However, what makes this film a major face-palm for the audience, is its oh-so-awesome VFX. From a hypnotic rat to computerized mountains, this film has the best worst VFX of all time. The movie makes no promises of being good at anything. But, if you ask me, it’s the best if you want to have a great laugh at nothing.
Now you may have had an itch in the eye with the vibrant fireworks in Brahmastra, but you gotta admit that the film proves we’ve come a long way!