Baahubali : Movie Analysis

Introduction :

It's the movie that telugu audience have been eagerly waiting for more than 3 years. When it finally arrived, it definitely has grown into a movie that will represent Indian Cinema, all over the world. You must know that during production of ANY movie, it kind of downgrades from what it should be due to a multitude of reasons. I mean, even your favorite movie could & should have been speckless. But very few directors are able to bring that well-nigh perfect output, for people to watch. Unquestionably, Rajamouli is one of them for us. The way he developed the supposedly small projects like 'Maryada Ramanna' & 'Eega' into sensational movies, will tell you all about that. Same happened here. The movie outgrew itself. I believe that is the reason behind the bloated budget of the movie. Well the movie started making table-profit (already covered the budget of the sequel too) in the first week of first part itself. So, all happiez there :)

#LiveTheEpic

Coming to our side, the audience side. We don't really care about the money or time they spent on the movie or many hardships they been through to make the movie what it is, do we? Come on, let's be real, what really matters to us, is Are We Entertained? (If positive, AWEsome. Negative?, awful then). So let's forget about the fact that the movie is groundbreaking in the scope of HIGH BUDGET MOVIES*.

Let's operate on the movie, considering it is a common kind and we'll rip it open.

Description : [No Wild Spoilers]

The movie kicked off with that scene, the one you'd expect after watching the trailer. It felt kinda flat having seen it in the trailer already, but what can they do, they have to drag us into theaters, right. So the movie showed off its Budget & VFX for a while through magnificent frames and picturesque locations. Well, some transitions in graphics surely fell short and looked dull on the big screen, but many still frame shots will make you feel, that sacred Hollywood Movie Experience :)  It was painful to see those pale effects coming in between those good ones making it less beautiful. But you can enjoy the tasteful photography and beautiful surroundings like those waterfalls, mountains and the forest location is a delight.

Even though you've seen Sivagami (Ramyakrishna), Sivudu (Prabhas) and Amma (Rohini) appeared on the screen and most of the scenes in trailer have passed, story really takes off only with entry of Avantika (Tamannah), who actually did a sincere effort to lift the intensity of the scenes with those sharp expressions and her glamour was no harm :P. Devasena (Anushka) had a brief but strong appearance in the movie, mostly as a means of moving plot forward. Aslaam Khan (Sudeep) appears on the screen with that small guest role (will reprise in part II) only to introduce our brave but sad Kattappa (Satyaraj) to us. Bhallaladeva (Rana) entry was a traditional villain strength exhibition scene but he enhanced it with intense dialogues and those wicked looks. Bijjaldeva (Nasserr) and Badhra (Sesh Adivi) contributed to the devilry with their presence. You'll get used to the effects and feel more natural as the cameras wander through the streets of the Mahishmathi Kingdom.

After what it felt like a series of somewhat pesky scenes in exciting locations (those explanatory ones and the duet song, meh!), Sivudu sets foot, on the land of Mahishmathi Kingdom (Kind of jumped into it, actually) and sets fire on screen (No, seriously). The whole 'Erecting the statue' scene was pictured with such a grandeur, you can see the effort of team behind. All the classical dancers, cultural artists shown, really things like that show movie maker's intention to bring depth to a scene and make you feel involved.

After a set of events leading to an awesome beheading scene (that was cool, really), movie flashbacks to the story of Amarendra Baahubali (Prabhas), nephew/step-son of Sivagami and cousin of Bhallaladeva. Well I can assure that you will revel RamyaKrishna's performance as Sivagami. She was so fabulous, you'll know why Rajamouli was praising her so much in the audio function. So the story moves on with Baahubali and Bhallaladeva reveailng a secretly approaching war after an exotic item song, of course. The competition between the cousins for throne will take a much serious turn being decided to judge based on their performances in the unexpectedly erupted war of Mahishmathi Kingdom with the approaching troops of a Tribal Warlord, Kalakeya (Prabhakar).

Well the rest is an epic war, conveying the difference between a warrior and a king.  Movie ends the flashback, explaining everyone, the greatness of Baahubali and leaves you waiting for The Conclusion.

Conclusion :

Movie really utilized its team, no doubt. You can't complain about acting performances. Actors were picked carefully to fit right in. Screenplay would have been more gripping without those duet and item songs, but they wanted those and you can understand why.  Dialogues have been set in a semi-imperial tone. Many scenes could have used more crisp in dialogues or maybe even no dialogues. Seriously, few scenes could have gathered more intensity without those small informative remarks by the characters. (ఎంత silent గా ఉంటే , అంత violent అన్నమాట, no kidding). Art department excelled in every possible way. VFX, like I mentioned is a mix of excellence and mediocrity. Great photography and impressive camera work (including the item song). BGMs and re-recording is a real asset to the movie and carried the energy of the movie all the way. Don't tell me that movie didn’t give you goosebumps somewhere.

Now let's go back to the fact that the movie is only the part I of a duology made with a budget of 250cr rupees and what we're comparing it with are those Hollywood movies with humongous budget (like n times 250cr) provided with experienced teams. If this movie had no flaws, then it would only mean all those Hollywood people are fools. But they're not. Hence this movie is precious, honorable and can & will be embraced as a great movie in Indian Cinema.

Expectation : Great Movie.

Result : No Disappointment.

Comment : First/Best of its Kind.

*Baahubali is evidently groundbreaking in the scope of HIGH BUDGET MOVIES, considering the pace Indian movie is moving forward in terms of willingness to place money on the movie content, instead of the other stuff (You know, all the heroism, but no substance). I mean, when it comes to those High Budget Movies, film makers gets kinda affright (well, reasonable) and focuses more on showing off the machoness of the hero and his supernatural abilities (Not reasonable & I don't mean those actual superhero movies like Krrish, which in fact failed doing the same :)) . Even though this movie is no exception for that heroism, item song etc., the movie is significantly propelled by story and the money is spent in the right way. Thank God.

But I'm sure Baahubali is just The Beginning.

P.S. : I kinda disliked Rajamouli's earlier semi-historical film 'Magadheera' for its too much focus on the 'other stuff' and was prepared to treat this one too, the same way on those grounds. But the movie is clearly of much higher rank.