Bāhubali: The Epic

Baahubali: The Epic Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Ramya Krishnan, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah Bhatia, Sathyaraj, Nasser

Director: S.S. Rajamouli

What’s Good: Everything!

What’s Bad: Some fantastic songs have been edited out!

Loo Break: Are you joking?

Watch or Not?: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

Language: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 224 Minutes

User Rating:

We all know the story. The kingdom of Mahishmati crowned the younger brother, Maharaja Vikramadeva, as king, as the elder brother, Bijjaladeva (Nasser), was not deemed fit to rule in terms of his buddhi (mindset). Later, Bijjaladeva’s son, Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati), elder to Veerendra’s son, Amarendra Baahubali (Prabhas), loses out to the latter as he too does not have the qualities needed for a king – to be as caring for his people as he is ruthless towards his enemies. Sivagami (Ramya Krishnan), Bijjaladeva’s wife, treats both the prince-regents as her offspring and manages the kingdom when Vikramadeva’s wife dies in childbirth.

The princess of the neighboring state of Kunthala, Devasena (Anushka Shetty), and Amarendra fall in love, and this incenses Bijjaladeva and his son, who desires her after seeing her image in a painting. The two manipulate Sivagami, and so Devasena and Baahubali are first exiled, and then the evil father and son hatch a successful plan to get Amarendra killed by loyal warrior Kattappa (Sathyaraj). A pregnant Devasena delivers a boy even as Kattappa tells Sivagami the truth, and she is filled with remorse.

To avoid her son killing Devasena’s baby, she escapes from the kingdom and is killed by her pursuers, but the boy survives and is adopted by a village couple, growing up to be Shivudu, the spitting image of his father. Devasena has been imprisoned but is still defiant 25 years later, living with the unshakable confidence that her son will return, avenge his father’s death, and reclaim the throne by killing Bhallaladeva.

Baahubali – The Epic Movie Review: Script Analysis

A note for the Oscar Library and similar: if you do not possess this script, it is your loss, especially since the criteria for choosing Indian films seems confused!

The story and screenplay, penned by the iconic V. Vijayendra Prasad along with director and co-writer S.S. Rajamouli, his son, remains one of the finest ever in Indian cinema history. Flawless to the core, it had left the first Baahubali—The Beginning’s audiences thirsting for the rest of the saga when it ended with Kattappa killing Amarendra despite being his staunch army general.

Baahubali 2—The Conclusion, released less than two years later, explained and concluded everything very satisfactorily indeed. The story was formulaic, with every ingredient—emotions, drama, romance, a bit of humour, and some of the greatest music—in perfect proportion, with self-admitted references also by the writer to iconic Hindi films as well.

What is even more interesting and gratifying is that the ‘join’ done here is seamless, and makes the flow so smooth that the franchise takes rebirth as a masterful single film. Yes, some magnificent songs (especially from the first part) are eliminated in the process, sequences naturally deleted for length, and the wonder is that the little add-on material (as the buzz goes) is so smoothly inserted that one does not even realize it.

The film’s highlights include the way Shivudu first meets the revolutionary Avanthika (Tamannaah Bhatia), his discovery of who he really is, the way he first scythes through Mahishmati, and lastly, the extended climax. Yes, the 224 minutes pass by, and I, for one, was a bit disappointed when I realized that the film had only about 15-20 minutes to go. The spectacular sets and magnificently-executed battle scenes serve the needs of the script, not vice-versa, as in many other misguided blockbusters.

Baahubali – The Epic Movie Review: Star Performance

Again, nothing further needs to be said about this aspect. The star performers remain Prabhas (who became known as “the first pan-Indian star” after this film!), Sathyaraj as Kattappa, Anushka Shetty as Devasena, doughty, daring, and determined, Ramya Krishnan as Sivagami, and Nasser as the near-comic yet vicious Bijjaladeva. Rohini, as Shivudu’s foster-mother, is excellent. Rana Daggubati’s villainy is effective, if stereotyped, ditto for Prabhakar as Kalakeya in a far briefer role. Tamannaah Bhatia fits the bill as Avanthika, the key member of the resistance by the Kunthalas against Mahishmati.