Bahubali – The beginning : Indian Epic
Rating ****1/2
Director S.S. Rajamouli is a master story teller of our times, and also one of the most progressive movie maker of Indian Cinema. The director is known to have never given a flop film in his career and also the director whose name in the opening title generates applause in a theater. The man is behind the super hit movies like Vikramarkudu later adopted in hindi as Rowdy Rathore, Magadheera that established Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan as a star and the technological genius Naan Ee or Makkhi as dubbed in hindi. All his movies are about human relationships, love, revenge and known Indian sensibilities, what is different is the treatment and the director’s vision.
Similar to Rajamouli’s previous creations Bahubali is not a story that you haven’t heard earlier. We all have seen the politics of the kings and our own ‘Game of thrones’ in the costume drama movies starring Dhramendra, Jeetendra etc. But this movie’s vision is not the same; the visionary director has made every aspect of the film with grandeur.
The story is about Shiva, who as an infant was escaped from unknown danger in the opening sequence and is taken to a village across a waterfall for survival. He grows up dreaming, attempting and failing to cross the waterfall. But the destiny calls him and one day following a mask fallen from the fall he climbs the mountains and reaches to the top and meets a rebellion warrior Avanthika.
They fall in love and situations take Shiva to the state of Mahishmati, where he is called as Bahubali by strange locals, then begins the journey to discover the true identity of Shiva. The movie isn’t yet complete yet and we can’t really wait to see the next installment which is scheduled to release in the next year.
As I said earlier the story might not be that novel but the presentation and the visuals are definitely something you would see on the big screen for the first time in an Indian movie. Be it the waterfall scene where Shiva is trying to climb it or the battle sequences towards the climax where thousands of soldiers are fighting, there is not one moment where you can take your eyes off the screen. Great level of details is evident in every frame of the movie.
Even the illogical romantic scenes in the beginning of the movie will leave you mesmerized due the beauty of the shot as it is taken.
The cast is just perfect, Prabhas might be unknown for the north Indian audiences but he is a super star down south and his charisma did also work on the Hindi speaking crowd. I watched the movie in north and the public went on whistling and clapping during the war sequences. Rana Daggubati is fierce as the able nemesis and does strike power with his well-built physique. Also Sathyaraj as the loyal soldier Katappa is worth mention, for his great performance.
The special mention here is for the powerful female characters shown in the movie be it the rebel warrior Avanthika, the politically wise queen Shivagami, the imprisoned Devasena or the adopted mother of Shiva, every female character has been given enough space for shining bright in a movie which is primarily around a male dominated subject.
The soundtrack done by M. M. Keeravani is awesome and perfectly suited for such a magnum opus.
The cinematography is marvelous but it is the VFX team that does steal the show. You can’t make out which is the real footage and what is computer generated and that’s the real power and correct use of technology.
There are a few problems as well like couple of songs which are nothing but speed breakers, and the animated bull that doesn’t look that real. Still that is very small thing in the large scale of the film.
A film like Bahubali must be appreciated and applauded for the effort that has went into making it. Breaking records everywhere this one will be remembered for a long time. It is for the big screen only so if you haven’t yet watched it do yourself a favor and watch it.
