Baahubali: The Beginning

If a person is bit of into movies, I am sure that person heard about Baahubali couple of years back. It took almost four years to complete the first part. Hero Prabhas had completely dedicated his time to this movie and no movie after his super successful movie Mirchi. Same is true from S.S Rajamouly, after his last non-conventional movie Eega. So obviously there are high expectations.

I was eagerly waiting for this movie and within no time I booked the tickets and went with my family. The results are out now, history books are being rewritten. An excellent movie, every frame is a mega scale. I couldn't remember a single scene which I felt bored. This movie will redefine Indian movie standards. Nothing less than The Lord of the Rings or in fact, can easily compete with any Hollywood movie.

Each and every character superbly framed. Every actor has done a decent job and Prabhas and Raana are over the sky, earned more than 100% credit. Can't wait for part 2.

Overall It's a superb visual treat.

Fantastic music, fantastic story, characters are very enjoyable and it's fun to figure things out as it goes and of course your fantastic Bollywood moments thrown in~

Great cinematography with concept and story in it . Nice directorial work by S. S. Rajamouli and the budget reflects in a heavy content of the film . I thoroughly enjoyed the paid preview . Its a first real tribute from film industry to the greatest epics of all time "The Mahabharata" .

Luring action sequence and VFX and one of the nicest delivered again from south .

Making bollywood look bad again in India , its absolutely not catching up with the southern films .

I am a north Indian and not a great fan of south but they really making bollywood run for its money spree .

First I then Kanchana 2 and now the mighty Bahubali .

Story - 9/10 Acting - 8/10 Visuals - 10/10

Overall 9/10

I was eagerly waiting for this film and I was not disappointed.

Baahubali is one of the most visually impressive films that have come from India. Everything about this film is good - Story, direction, beautiful cinematography, haunting score and amazing visuals (though they lack some details at some places).

I didn't know who Rajamouli was, basically because I am from North India and I don't follow south Indian cinema. But I am sure he is someone you should know about. SS Rajamouli is amazing. He has made something that we can be proud of. I was sure that the VFX would be good however I had a doubt about the story. Rajamouli proved me wrong with this film. The story and the execution is really good. Story takes elements from Indian mythologies (specially from the life of Lord Krishna) . You can not expect more. He took a big risk and made it big. This is what we need, good quality cinema. Salman fans should learn something from it.

All the actors are good and perform their part really well(except Tamanna. She tries too hard but fails miserably). In fact, Tamanna has been used as a plot device (A MacGuffin as Alfred Hitchcock used to call it). Prabhas is okay in the beginning but transforms into a behemoth during the second half. This guy is a natural. He doesn't act exceptionaly but his presence is enough to give you the feels.

The background score needs special mention because it is amazing. It is different from anything you have ever heard in India. The score that plays during war is haunting. (Clearly inspired from the LotR)

I would be lying if I didn't say that Rajamouli spent a lot of time watching The Lord of The Rings. Yes, some scenes will remind you of 300 and the Lord of The Rings but believe me it is completely different. He doesn't copy anything, he uses it as a source of inspiration. There is only one scene that I remember from LotR which has been used in Baahubali. But denying that he was influenced by Peter Jackson would be a big lie. Its a great thing that he was influenced by such a great film otherwise we wouldn't have Baahubali.

The quality of graphics work is very good. In fact its insane for such a cheap price given that Hollywood uses big budget for the same. The battle sequence is SPECTACULAR and reminded me of Battle of Helm's Deep and Pelennor fields from LotR.

But the movie is not without some minor problems. There are unnecessary songs which ruin the experience (I laughed so hard when Prabhas started dancing randomly. Everyone was looking at me.) and some parts are dragged (specially the first half) . Also there are continuity problems and some actors are over-the-top. Cut down the songs and edit the movie and voilà we will have a SPECTACULAR film.

Baahubali is not the answer to 300, Gladiator or The Lord of The Rings because saying so would be foolish. Don't compare this movie to the Hollywood ones because we still have a long way to go. It's not the Indian 300, its Indian "Baahubali".

So in the end, I would like to say - Go and watch it instead of watching the crap that Bollywood has been producing lately. Its something to be proud of. Book your tickets and watch this Indian grand spectacle. You wont regret it. P.S: I want to see Rajamouli doing "Mahabharata" next.

Sometimes a movie comes along that causes a revolution in film history. A movie that people aspire to copy from and is talked about for the better half of a century. A movie which gets embedded in cultural history, and influences a whole generation. It stands as a symbol of pure art and culture, portraying the beauty, that is cinema.

This is not that movie. This is an ego-trip, following the need to present a spectacle to a spectacle-hungry audience which has never needed anything philosophical or intellectual. For such an audience, a simplistic plot and beautiful visuals are needed, which this film caters to. But beyond that, we cannot be persuaded to find any relevance of such an endeavor. The ideas and people get lost behind the purported veil of glamor and show. This leads to a disconnect from the characters themselves and we are left with a pot boiler which fizzles out before it even heats up. It'll leave you wanting, nay, craving to know the end and you will shell out even more of your money to follow it through. *sigh* The times we live in.