Baahubali

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.

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.

I'm a big fan of Rajamouli, but this is not a biased review. The rating I gave is not just for Rajamouli but the entire unit of Baahubali. Right from the story which reminded me of all the beautiful Indian stories that were part of my childhood,(I'm getting back to reading Amar Chitra Katha now!!!) to every guy who says "Baahubali" in the movie. There were several scenes that gave me goosebumps, not scary ones but like those that put you in awe.

It should just get better from here for Indian Cinema. This should be the benchmark for story telling, direction, script, visuals, sets, screenplay etc.(but not for acting!!!)

The story keeps you hooked to the movie. I wouldn't say too many good things about the movie as they may contain spoilers. But I could compare the movie to a good mythological comic that you would like to read again and again.(So I'm watching the movie again tomorrow!!!)

But I would like to mention why I reduced the two stars 1. The make up was not at all good. Especially Anushka's

2. The costumes could be better, probably more realistic(if you compare costumes in Troy or even Hercules, they were more relevant)

3. At times people in the background were not true to the scene, my concentration was distracted due to some idiots who didn't match the scene. A few villagers, few priests, few classical dancers, few tribal guys. The Kalakeya warriors were amazing though.

4. WHO THE HELL CHOSE TO PUT AN ITEM SONG. There were many uufffs in the theatre at that time. How the hell did probably an eastern European end up in that.

5. There were a few glitches in the VFX, like whenever the hero is jumping around... it made it look unnatural. That's poor graphics. I'm not an expert on this but few of those jumping sequences could be avoided. You don't see them in Hollywood mythological except for superhero movies which are more convincing.

But not too many complaints about that as I understand there are certain budget constraints for VFX but Makeup, there is no excuse for that.

All said and done, it was a fantastic movie and worth the wait and ends with a nice climax which keeps you guessing the 2nd half story.

My favourite characters were Sivagami and Kattappa. I am in love with Ramya Krishna again. I'm watching it again tomorrow.

3 years of sheer hard-work of many people who have worked their hearts out for this Visual Wonder has paid off well? Not exactly though, since the answer is simple and straight, you just have to wait for the 'Conclusion' till 2016 and that would decide the fate of this franchise on a whole. The story is paced slowly in the first half giving way and screen space to our Mother Nature's beauty and CGI's magic and one might find it a little too draggy if one considers 'Baahubali' to solely be a hero and since that's not possible, Shivudu has a love life and heroic nature and scenes of his own.Abrupt cuts and unconvincing CGI at certain places in first half are the only flaws with the whole film. Coming to the second half, one is told what he'd expect to be told, as the trailer tells the same. War sequences are really well shot and makes it hard to believe that they were actually made by Indians! One has to just bow down to Srinivas Mohan and his team for excellent CGI and Senthil Kumar for superb visuals. Our captain gives us a bang, as his trademark style known as 'Interval Bang' only at the end this time because technically this movies' end is the interval for the 2 parts taken as a whole. Art work in this Epic is just out of the world, kudos to Sabu Cyril sir and thousands of technicians who worked on this aspect.BGM is soothing for the first half which is apt for what we get on screen and the second half war episodes get the best of the lot BGMs to elevate the scenes. Songs are places really well except for 'Manohari' song.Dolby Atmos effect is an added attraction and I highly recommend people to watch this flick in theatres with this specific sound system, it will surely remain as a great experience for you. The sound effects are haunting, pleasing and give you goosebumps at the same time. Anushka had an extended cameo but did perform commendably well, special applause to her expressions. Special mention to Ramya Krishna madame, she was at her best! Katappa will blow your mind with his characteristics and Sathya Raj Sir does 100% justice to it. Though Prabhas and Rana Daggubati did well only their attitude in their respective roles stands out as the best because more of them is yet to come in the sequel. All you need to do is to watch the movie as it comes because expectations lead to disappointment. If you miss this movie, you've just lost a once in life-time 'Indian' movie experience on a big screen.

I have to say one thing before I say anything about this movie. This is my first review in IMDb. I have created the account today to rate this movie so that I can say to the world that this is our Indian - Hollywood movie. Baahubali is an Indian movie but the standards are equal to Hollywood. I am really surprised by watching Baahubali. I am not rating this movie according to visual effects, actors, music nor even story. I am rating this movie by considering all the things. I am eagerly waiting for the second part now.

Please do not add this movie into South Indian movie list. It is an Indian movie that stands on the top of the list. According to the story line everybody did their job well. I have to appreciate Rajamouli for his daring and dashing guts for doing a project like this one. He has set a new trend by directing this movie.