Review: Baahubali: Visually stunning and unavoidable! ****

1286th BLOG POST -->>

BAAHUBALI: 4/5

       I am not a great fan of any cinema except Bollywood and you can call me a cliche audience who likes that emotional background music in almost every scene because director wants you to continuously weep and feel emotionally connected with the movie. But interestingly, I have watched two Hollywood movies- 2012 and Avatar in theater. Similarly, I have watched only one South Indian movie dubbed in Hindi in a multiplex and that was way back in 2012- EEGA named Makkhi in its Hindi version. I took my friends along with me and what I got back was disappointment along with 500 abuses from my friends. After watching the first trailer of Baahubali and finding it visually attractive, I had decided that I would go for the movie but alone unlike last time. When I started reading about it, I got to know that it's made by the same director who made Eega. I was dumbstruck. 

   

        Finally, after watching the movie and investing my Sunday in it, I can ask everyone to go and watch Baahubali for the kind of impact its visuals, special effects, huge waterfall, big caves, tall mountains, unending battle field does upon you. S S Rajamouli have gained the kind of respect Rakesh Roshan have gained in Hindi cinema. Both of them tries to introduce something new technical-wise and impress their audience with the new visuals and concepts. Though Rajamouli is 5 steps ahead of Roshan because even if he steals few graphics and concepts from Hollywood and other movies, he makes sure of introducing something new himself. Eega was a great example of the same. Bollywood have yet not found the courage of remaking Magadheera even after 6 years of its release. That's the power of Rajamouli. 

            Right from the first scene, Baahubali conquers your mind, body and soul. And the moment Prabhas enters the screen, the film starts flying quite high where no movie have ever reached. The last movie which I found little visually appealing was Raavan made by Maniratnam but Baahubali beats it easily in its first 5 minutes itself. You find yourself drenched in water in those waterfall scenes. Though the romantic scenes and songs are distraction and also makes first half little slow paced but the intermission scene embeds a lot of energy in you to watch what happens ahead. After interval, movie prepares for that climax fight which is of almost 30 minutes approximately. And the whole battle is beautifully shot with great effects, camera angles and heroism attitude of both the lead actors. Overall, Baahubali is a movie that needs to be watched once even when I feel that it's storyline wasn't that powerful as it could have been.

          Coming to the performances, Prabhas have found a new fan in me. His screen presence is immensely powerful and every time he is there, you just keep falling in deeper love with him. The scene when he carries Shivling on his shoulder and another when he grabs villain's head in that lion's face idol is epic. Rana Duggabati is equally powerful and his acting have improved a lot. His eyes itself speaks intense in this movie and his physical appearance gives Baahubali the ultimate hugeness it needed to look big. Tamannah was just okay. Anushka did something gutsy what most actresses would never agree for. All the other actors are equally good. 

             Background music does it for Baahubali. Coming to the drawbacks, I just felt that no character except Prabhas was projected enough so that we can feel emotionally attached with them. The first half is too slow initially because of the romantic angle between Prabhas and Tamannah. Because the movie is made in two parts, we could feel an incompleteness even after the kind of battle we experience in the end. Baahubali is great but not epic. It is not avoidable at all and therefore I give it 4 stars out of 5. 

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!