Saturday, 8 July 2017

Bahubali: The Conclusion – My review on the epic sequel

In the heartland of Mahishmati, the stage of betrayal and vengeance is set up between two warring brothers – the cruel Bhallaldeva and the righteous Amarendra Bahubali. The first part of movie ended with Kattappa’s confession of killing the great king Bahubali. The sequel continues with Shivudu, the son of Bahubali listening to the real mystery behind his father’s death. After defeating Kalakeya tribe, Bahubali is declared the king of Mahishmati. On a mission to capture Kuntala kingdom, Bahubali ends up falling in love with Devasena, the Kuntala princess. Instead of taking her captive, Bahubali rescues her kingdom from invaders. A love blossoms between Bahubali and Devasena. Here Bhallaldeva, the rival brother of Bahubali poisons the mind of his queen mother Sivagami. This misunderstanding creates a rift between Bahubali and Queen Sivagami. Bhallaldeva is crowned the king of Mahishmati while Bahubali has to leave the palace along with Devasena. The fortunate stars are not in favor of Bahubali and a treacherous plan claims the life of the great Bahubali. After discovering the tragic end of Bahubali, his son Shivudu declares a war on Bhallaldeva and what follows later is a bloody war between dharma and adharma.



Swords, knights, empire, chariot races, deception, romance and war are the formulaic elements that make an epic movie successful. Bahubali is not an exception to it. What separate Bahubali from other epic movies are the larger than life characters that make Bahubali movie an epic saga. The yesteryear’s South Indian movies were full of mythology and epic sagas. People used to decorate the talkies like temple and pour milk on the photographs of their screen idols. Such was the hysteria of the movie audiences. Bahubali movie belongs to that league where audience literally cried over the death of Amarendra Bahubali played by Prabhas. Bahubali is a fusion of several Indian epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana and seeks inspiration from several Hollywood epic classics like Ben-Hur, Gladiator, Braveheart, Kingdom of heaven etc. There are lot of action scenes that are inspired by 300 and Gladiator. For me, Bahubali was a regular epic vengeance drama which was uplifted with lavish settings, high definition VFX, thousands of junior artists and big celebrities. What impressed me in this movie was the character Sivagami, the foster mother of Bahubali. Played to perfection by actress Ramya Krishna, this role has already become immortal in world of cinema. There are lots of questions that remain unanswered in this movie. It is Kattappa the slave who kills Bahubali on orders of Sivagami. Kattappa is like a robotic slave who follows the order blindly even if it is suppressing his conscience. He could have protected Bahubali. Instead he stabs him back. Will Kattappa kill Bahubali’s son in future if his mind is poisoned again? Why is the cruel king Bijjaldeva spared? Will Shivudu continue the legacy of his father Bahubali without any hurdles? Is there any third part of Bahubali coming soon? Director S.S.Rajamouli ends Bahubali movie on an engaging note.    

Author Anand Neelkanthan has helmed the responsibility of writing Bahubali novel for director S.S.Rajamouli. The first part in the trilogy has already hit the bookstores. Rise of Sivagami is the first book in this trilogy which will trace the origins of Sivagami and backstory of Kattappa. Will Bahubali return in the third part? Only time will tell.




1 comment:

  1. While I have been no fan of the Baahubali franchise so far, I have to admit that I am most intrigued to watch the superlative sequel that is being rightfully hailed for its tremendous scale of spectacle, drama and action. As that frenetic trailer had got me hooked, I am sure that after reading this brilliant, crisp and entertaining review, I am bound to download it immediately. Thanks a lot Prashant for this wonderful review...keep them coming.

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