Baahubali — The beginning
The movie definitely deserves a lot of credit for the efforts of so many who’ve put in countless hours on Rajamouli’s biblical epic to bring his vision to life. But some reviewers comparing it with #lordOfTheRings is going way overboard. Baahubali does redefine the quality of period films that can be made in India. But we still have as much to progress in visual effects as after Rajamouli’s own Magadheera. That has to be the biggest shortcoming with these mammoth efforts. The movie aimed high and did more than any other Indian movie so far, but still falls short on many technical points.
Note: There are a few spoilers ahead.
The good
We can’t help but appreciate the dedication of all the actors in training rigorously with weapons & horses to make fighting on screen look natural. On par with their training was the stunt master Peter Hein using their newly acquired skills to aptly showcase the warrior each character needed to be. Tamannaah showed deft control with a sword. She’s come a long way since her debut in Happy Days. We’ll have to wait and see how Anushka will dazzle us in Baahubali: The Conclusion.
Bhallala’s weapon was a brilliant idea. It was an interesting ploy to give the antagonist a unique weapon while the protagonist used his superior skills with any weapon he got his hands on. Bhallala’s chariot was another masterpiece with the long blades clearing the path for the horses pushing it. Added to this was the charioteer completely hidden and protected by the outer shell of the chariot. I don’t think even Ben Hur had these simple but innovative ideas implemented. The ease with which Baahubali toyed with any weapon he wielded was an absolute treat.
Using an actual invented language in the movie(though not unheard of — Na’avi in Avatar & Klingon in Star Trek were actual languages) shows to what lengths the director is always willing to go for an authentic alternate reality in his movies.
All the actors did well in their roles. Ramyakrishna as always was exceptional. The opening scene gave a hair raising start and everyone was in for the whole ride from there on. Rana could have been much more impactful and I hope that is being reserved for the sequel.
The not so good
The visual effects as mentioned earlier have to improve a lot. Rajamouli might have had a grand imagination for Mahishmati on the silver screen, but that wasn’t realized and it was clearly visible that it was a miniature set. Magadheera, though not perfect, was much more successful in showing scaled replicas as a real kingdom. The flyby shots of the kingdom are similar but better than those shown in 7aum Arivu.
The efforts made by Prabhas aside, there was not much of quality work on the waterfall while showing Shivudu climbing up. The shots where the night sky is shown is low quality work.
After Shivudu reaches the top, it is snowing and within minutes the scene changes into rain and marshes. Even if the weather did change that drastically, the temperatures would be very low and the local tribe (Avanthika’s) is woefully undressed for such weather. Avanthika’s gait which was in Rajamouli’s control is very unnatural for any person — warrior or not.
Rana did not look menacing enough in his introduction scene. Though the bull that fights with Bhallala looks very real, they forgot to make the background look real enough. Looked more like an indoor studio, which it probably was. It is more clearly visible when Bhallaladeva and Kattappa are conversing after the bull fight.
As Shivudu fights off the soldiers the first time while defending Avanthika, the weather is shown to have frozen icicles on the trees but snow everywhere else around those trees. It cannot be freezing rain in just one spot with snow all around it. Also, the “ice crystals” look more like what they actually are — clear glass or plastic crystals. And ice does not make such “clinking” sounds in nature. Again, everyone in that scene is not dressed remotely suitable for that kind of cold weather. That freezing weather that freezes water into crystals requires exceptionally warm clothing.
The special effects of snow behind Baahubali and Avanthika in the avalanche are disappointingly bad.
In the war, the flank formation in the middle with very few number of soldiers behind that first flank(as shown from above) facing the enemy isn’t how it needs to be to be successful. There need to be more rows of soldiers backing the front rows.
As much as I loved Bhallala’s mace, every time it was wielded, I could clearly tell it was only visual effects.
A horse rider cannot penetrate through an entire army without being brought down no matter how good a swordsman he/she is. And no human can run faster than a galloping horse and pull themselves up and around from in front of that horse.
There are few more imaginary and incredulous things seen in most Telugu movies which I am avoiding mentioning here.
My biggest problem with most “big” Indian movies is the ticket price. This movie fits right into that category. No Indian movie is worth more than twice the price of a regular movie ticket. Fleecing the audience is simply not acceptable.
It was a great period film. Better than most other Indian films in the same genre. But definitely not on par with the best in the world. And definitely not worth the 25$ ticket price.
