Perhaps, the closest or the only competitor of Bollywood in India is South Indian Cinema or Telugu(Tollywood), Tamil(Kollywood), Kannada(Sandalwood), Malayalam(Mollywood) and Tulu cinema respectively. The emergence of the popularity of South films not just in India but worldwide has taken place recently with Superstars like Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Nagarjuna, Mohanlal, Prabhas, Vikram, Surya, etc churning out blockbusters in their respective movies.In addition, South movie directors aren't hesitant in using the latest VFX or CGI, glitz, glamour, item songs, sophisticated action sequences, exotic locations and more in turning the eyeballs of their viewers and critics alike. One such film based on Indian culture/mythology which has managed to turn heads and acclaimed to be India's greatest blockbuster is Bahubali:The Beginning(2015)
Plot:-
The story focuses on a kingdom named Mahishmati. One of the initial scenes shows an injured woman(Ramya Krishnan) carrying a baby boy, wading across the river with her hand holding the baby above the waters for it to survive., but unfortunately drowns while attempting to do so. Later local villagers notice and rescue the baby. A woman named Sanga(Rohini) and her husband name the child Sivudu and take responsibility of raising the child as their own.
Later, Sivudu(Prabhas) grows up to be a young adventurous guy with a warrior trait or instinct. While carrying a Shiva lingam, he finds a wooden mask on the ground and later finds out that it belongs to a young lady named Avantika(Tamannah), who belongs to a group with a mission to rescue their queen named Devasena(Anushka Shetty) who has been imprisoned in Mahishmati for several years.At the same time, Avantika's group led by the queen's brother engaged in guerilla type warfare against the kingdom of Mahishmati.
Avantika falls in love with Sivudu and Sivudu pledges to help her in her mission. While rescuing Devasena, Emperor Bhallaldeva's son, Bhadra, attacks and chases Sivudu.Later, Sivudu beheads Bhadra, which makes Katappa(Satyaraj) realise that Sivudu is Mahendra Baahubali, the son of late king Amarendra Baahubali.
The story narrates as to how Bijjalaldeva(Nassar) through crookedness and cunning nature was denied the power or authority to rule over the kingdom.His wife Sivagami(Ramya Krishnan)became the Queen until a new King would have to be selected.It is then known that Sivudu and his cousin Prince Bhallaldeva(Rana Daggubati), the son of Bijjalaldeva and Sivagami, was brought up together.However, their approaches towards the people and the kingdom varied largely. Bhallaladeva was quite insecure about Sivudu right from childhood fearing Sivudu gaining a greater preference and advantage by his family as well as the people of the kingdom.
Later, information arrives that the kingdom would be attacked by an army of savages called Kalakeyas.The Kalakeyas had numerical superiority of 4:1 against Mahishmati i.e Kalakeyas had over 1 lakh men in its army whereas Mahishmati had just 25000. Yet, they believed that they would be victorious at all costs.Bijjaladeva had placed a condition that the warrior who killed Inkoshi, the leader of the Kalakeyas would be the future king of Mahishmati which was agreed upon.
Before the final battle commenced, the Kalakeyas were given an ultimatum to flee from the land elsewise suffer consequences. However, Inkoshi had insulted Sivagami saying that he would kill both the princes and have children with her.An enraged Sivagami then demands that Inkoshi must be kept alive but his limbs chopped off as a punishment/torture for having the audacity to think in that manner.
As the armies of Kalakeya charged towards Mahishmati, the princes unleashed their impressive military prowess as a huge barrage of arrows, cannons and giant pieces of cloth, doused with flammable material were hurled at the advancing army.The Kalakeyas suffered a great deal but their numerical strength enabled them to carry forward the attack. Both Bhallaldeva and Sivudu fought valiantly and caused a huge blow to the enemy. As Bhallaladeva had always suffered insecurity with regards to Sivudu, the same was displayed on the battlefield whenever he found Sivudu to be outperforming him in battle.They finally charged on the enemy with horses in order to rescue captured citizens of Mahishmati.
Finally, Sivudu manages to beat down Inkoshi and while on the verge of obeying his mother's orders to decapitate Inkoshi while keeping him alive, Bhallaladeva strikes and kills Inkoshi with his mace.
It is later decided that Sivudu aka Bahubali would be crowned the next king of Mahishmati and the final scene shows Katappa killing Bahubali with the sword, a question mark which was popularly raised during the release of the sequel.
Direction/Performances/Others:-
South Indian movies are famed for being exaggerative in their approach towards every element of the movie.Bahubali is not an exception, however there is a realistic approach too as it is built upon the core elements of mythology and history. The film portrays the inward politics and struggle of the rulers of the kingdom as well as them facing an external threat of invasion.
S.S Rajamouli, the director had all the package necessary to churn out a blockbuster out of this film-good script, locations, actors, performances, CGI/VFX, stunt directors, songs, etc.
The characters looked realistic in accordance with the periodical setting and script of the film.All had done justice to their respective roles.
However, the most notable performances were those of Prabhas and Rana Duggubati playing Sivudu aka Baahubali and Bhallaladeva respectively. Their charisma and personality were traits which enabled them to pull off their roles and the valour enacted, mainly in the battle scenes enabled them to steal the show.
Many of the other artistes managed to get into the attire of their roles, mainly Nassar playing the very cunning and crafty Bijjalaldeva or Ramya Krishnan playing Sivagami.Tamannah as the very glamourous Avantika and Anushka Shetty playing the Queen Devasena were quite convincing.
Many of the scenes depicting nature such as the waterfalls or the medieval city of Mahishmati looked quite appealing and added to the glamour quotient.The background score too was well timed.
The focal point or the Holy Grail of the movie is the final epic battle scene between the warriors of Mahishmati and Kalakeyas. In addition to the'300' type inspired action scenes, the VFX and cinematography is what gave life to the entire duration of the battle scene which would keep an ordinary viewer ingrained. Here too, the look of the Kalakeyas as brutal savages were very convincing and one would assume that thousands of real life tribal savages were roped in the movie. A special type of fictional language called Kilikili was employed to depict the language of the Kalakeyas which featured a lot of unusual words or sounds
Music:-
'The music of the film was composed by M.M Keeravani who is the cousin of director S.S Rajamouli. It featured 7-8 tracks depending on the language in which it was released. Nora Fatehi and Scarlett Wilson had cameo roles as dancers in the track'Manohari'.
Overview:-
The grand success of the film can be attributed to its wide scale marketing across the country and overseas. It released in over 4000 screens worldwide in Hindi as well as in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. It received positive response even amongst its critics and was well appreciated.
