Baahubali: The Conclusion Tamil Movie
Finally got a chance to catch up with the most awaited movie of the year, in fact, for the past 2 years. While the first part gave away the possible backstory of the movie, there were so many intriguing questions like "Why Kattappa killed Baahubali" and "How Baahubali was ousted from the empire".
From a plot perspective, the hooks for second part had already been laid firmly by director Rajamouli in the first one. To top it all, the Baahubali franchise has "grandeur" as the selling point. So people were kept on the wait for the sort of grandeur that was to be unleashed with cutting edge CG and animation.
The conclusion, as mentioned before, starts from Kattappa narrating the times he spent with Baahubali Senior, how he was ousted from the empire and ultimately gets slain by Kattappa himself. Then, predictably, the revenge saga starts and we are treated to a happy ending with good taking over the evil.
But after watching the movie, I firmly believe that the story just cannot be described on paper. It has to be experienced. After all, tonnes of effort, passion and diligence have gone into the making of this visual extravaganza. This is a movie that has to be enjoyed on IMAX (sadly the Tamil version hasn't got it) and ATMOS fitted auditoriums, in order to immerse oneself into the movie.
From a script perspective, the romantic interludes between Anushka and Prabhas was a lot better than the one that was showcased in the first part between Prabhas and Tamannaah. Sathyaraj was a pillar of strength in terms of supporting cast and was literally anchoring the movie at emotionally charged moments. As the loyal servant who has to choose between his loyalty and conscience, his inhibitions were conveyed with subtle but majestic body language and detailed expressions.
Prabhas as Baahubali senior and junior looked the part and carried his form well from the first part to this one. His stardom has certainly taken a transnational leap. Rana, as the evil sibling was an equal fit to Prabhas in terms of character polarity and physic. For Nassar and Ramya Krishnan, it should have been another day at the office - always a pleasure watching seasoned actors unleashing their skills effortlessly on a huge canvas.
Background by Keeravani was mindblowing and gave the movie it's deserved highs at appropriate plot points. Watch out for the court scene where Prabhas beheads an army commander. The music just plays into our psyche and creates an aura that was adrenalin pumping. The interval block where Baahubali is getting his dues from the commoners of "Magizh Mathi" with the thumps and thuds even after made to play the second fiddle was another example of BGM playing its part to up the ante.
Cinematography by Senthil Kumar continues to enthral us and combined with mind-boggling CG, it was in an altogether a different league. The sound design too should be lauded for coming up with crisp and clear dialogues with enhanced thuds and thumps during the action sequences.
If I have to complain, then I would have to reluctantly point my fingers at the last 45 minutes. Before nitpicking, one has to accept the fact that the movie falls under the fantasy / mythical action thriller genre. That would give a lot of headroom for some over-the-top action. Well, the graphics could have been a notch more believable, but by then we've already got our money's worth in terms of plot, performances and a sensational piece of filmmaking from an ace filmmaker.
Salutes to director Rajamouli and team for giving us a magnum opus in its truest sense!