Avi‘s Review of Bahubali – The Beginning

With the release of Bahubali – The Conclusion being just one week away, now I wish to share my review of Bahubali – The Beginning.

When I saw Bahubali – The Beginning, I was in total awe of this movie. Because in my opinion, in terms of action, sets and costumes, this movie is that to Tollywood (Telugu film industry), Kollywood (Tamil film industry) and Bollywood what 300 movie by Zack Snyder is to Hollywood.

If you are thinking that Bahubali has been copied from 300, then you are wrong. Some war scenes might look similar to 300 but on the basis of that, if you accuse S.S. Rajamouli of copying from 300, then that would be like saying as if every superhero that can fly is a copy of Superman.

In the movie, Prabhas was convincing as Shivudu and Amarendra Bahubali, both characters he played. As Shivudu (whose real name would later be revealed as Mahendra Bahubali), he portrayed a caring and devoted son who loved his adoptive mother. He is a son that every mother would wish to have.

As Amarendra Bahubali, he portrayed a protector who like an ideal king would care for his subjects. And he plans his act of protecting his subjects well in advance.

As usual, action sequences fascinated me.

The biggest surprise for me in this movie was Tamannah Bhatia playing a warrior Avanthika and convincing me with her performance. I was surprised because in all the South Indian movies of Tamannah that I have seen, she has always been shown as damsel in distress. In one scene, Tamannah did appear as damsel in distress but a damsel who can kick ass.

Being male dominated since its inception, Indian cinema has been supporting the dogmatic stereotype through 99% of its movies (in all languages) that the job of heroine is to only look pretty. Heroines rarely get challenging roles.

I was happy to see Tamannah as a warrior. However, for everyone who only wants to see her beauty, she did a good job regarding looking pretty in Dheevara (Khoya Hai) song in which she looked like a beauty straight out of the pages of Amar Chitra Katha.

Another powerful character in the movie is Queen Mother Sivagami whose story deserves to be told but has not been explored in the movie. The novel Rise of Sivagami tells her story and I am glad it does.

We are all wondering why Katappa killed Bahubali and we will find out in Bahubali – The Conclusion. But he is an interesting character whose story needs to be told. I am happy that once again, the novel is fulfilling my wish.

Speaking of Soundtrack, all songs are good. However, after Dheevara, the best songs are Manohari and Sivuni Aana (Kaun Hai Voh). And I give four stars to the soundtrack album of Bahubali – The Conclusion as well.

Rajamouli‘s writing team did a great job in ensuring equal attention for Prabhas as well as Rana Daggubati.

Rana might be playing the villain in this movie but the story being told in Flashback reveals that he had heroic elements in him.

The flashback story also explores the circumstances that in the opinion of first heroic (grey shades of his personality visible even at this time) Bhallaladeva (Rana), mated injustice to him and caused his slow transition into a villain.

In this regard, Nasser‘s portrayal of Bijjaladeva, a father who wants to see his son as the king adds excitement to the story. The climax shows how proud he is of his son Bhallaladeva.

Although Anushka Shetty has done various woman oriented movies like Arundhati in past and established herself as an actress who plays powerful female characters breaks the stereotypes in Telugu cinema, in this movie, her role as Queen Devasena was limited. I do expect a powerful performance from her in Bahubali – The Conclusion where her back story is expected to be explored.

I have a feeling that when Bahubali – The Conclusion explores the role of Queen Devasena in the Flashback story, we might see Bhallaladeva and Amarendra Bahubali participating in the swayamvar of Princess Devasena where Bahubali would win, adding fuel to the fire of jealousy and animosity in Bhallaladeva's heart which would be another step of Bhallaladeva's transition into the villain of the present day story.

I have also started read the first book of prequel series Bahubali – Before The Beginning title, Rise of Sivagami. I am sure that I will enjoy it. This novel explores the young days of Sivagami along with the story of a young Katappa when he was 21 years old.

Now we all wait for Bahubali – The Conclusion.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Please follow my blog if you like it. Share your thoughts about this movie and tell me your expectations from Bahubali – The Conclusion.