In the last 15 to 20 years, technology has brought in paradigm shifts (and usually major improvements) in all aspects of cinema—projection of visuals, sound, music, filmmaking, editing, visual effects and more.
But it is an axiom that it must be used judiciously and be in sync with the content so that technological wizardry can elevate it. At no point must the content or soul of a story be secondary to the technological razzle-dazzle. Otherwise, there is shipwreck ahead!
We have watched innumerable examples in this phase both ways: films where technology served the script, and the calamitous vice-versa examples.
And most happily, this film falls in the first category!
S.S. Rajamouli, easily among the cream of Indian filmmakers, has proven beyond doubt that a successful commercial film ranks far higher in caliber to any other ‘arty’ or ‘midstream’ movie, proving the vastly-superior intelligence of its makers. His Eega / Makkhi (2012) was a dazzling display of cinematic excellence, as was Bahubali—The Beginning and its follow-up that was shot part-simultaneously—Bahubali 2—The Conclusion.
With the smashing success of both these films, the whizkid filmmaker decided to celebrate the trendsetting franchise by giving the audiences a mix of both films as a single 224-minute extravaganza. Between them, the two films were 324 minutes long (from the 660-minute footage that was originally shot!!!) and the editing had to be sharp, well-thought of and entertaining.
The result is an extraordinary masterpiece from this human ‘masterpiece’ if I may call the filmmaker-writer that. The Rajamouli family has genius in its genetic code: V. Vijayendra Prasad, his father who is also the co-writer, is nothing less than an icon. His cousin, M.M. Keeravani, is a composer who has no equals as of now in Telugu cinema. In fact, the only downer for me was that most of his agelessly brilliant songs, shot splendiferously, are absent in the interest of this narrative’s length, otherwise, maybe, I would have been compelled to rate this fare as a six-stars one!
So, believe it or not, the minutes whizzed past and as I knew the climax was to set in, I was actually disappointed that there were only about 15 or 20 minutes to go!
And that is what Rajamouli and his cinema are all about: completely absorbing entertainment, laced with the finest technology and awesome production design, cinematography and sound that has been further enhanced by stellar editing and remastering. Quite naturally, as we all know the story, many a wonderful sequence and scenes had to be scissored. Buzz is that some hitherto unseen footage has been added, but that process has been so seamless that I could never make out where it has bene done, if at all the buzz is true. I am sure addicts of the franchise (now spelt with a double ‘a’ after the B!) will make that out—for I have watched both films only twice, many years ago!
The plotline is simple: a young villager, Shivudu (Prabhas) discovers by chance that he is actually a prince, his father had been ruthlessly murdered and his mother (Anushka Shetty) imprisoned even as he was saved by Providence. Shivudu has incredible strength just as his father did and he looks identical to him. The mission to free his mother, claim the throne and destroy the usurpers (led by his uncle, played by Rana Daggubati) who have bagged the throne of Maahishmati.
Every actor is good, especially Prabhas, Ramya Krishnan as his aunt, Sathyaraj as his trusted aide, Rohini as his foster mother and Nassar as the scheming father of Rana. Tamannaah has a relatively brief role, but her Hindi career had taken off only after this film!
Nothing really new in the storyline, right? But the franchise’s strength came from its heady mix of screenplay, technical scale and musical excellence along with the performances. And so extraordinary is this fusion of two films that I am compelled to give the ultimate rating to this magical revisit of one of our finest franchises, all capsuled into a magnificent entertainer that will leave uninitiated or first-time audiences spellbound.
Rating: *****
Arka Media Works’ Baahubali—The Epic Produced by: Shobu Yarlagadda & Prasad Devineni Directed by: S.S. Rajamouli Written by: V. Vijayendra Prasad, S.S. Rajamouli & Manoj Muntashir (Hindi dialogues) Music: M.M. Keeravani Starring: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan, Nassar, Rohini, Adivi Sesh, Sathyaraj, Prabhakar, Tanikella Bharani, Subbaraju & others
