Bahubali 2: The conclusion – Lives up to the hype, almost…

While watching the second and final installment of Bahubali, the question that may come into the minds of film connoisseurs is can the movie stand on its own stead against the best of high fantasy we have seen in world cinema?

But let us park that question for now.

Bahubali 2 exceeds the first in terms of the size of the canvas and imagery. The vision of Rajamouli is clearly on display. A movie like this cannot happen unless there is team work from experts in various departments. The aerial shots at strategic points, deft cinematography, excellent graphic design and imagination, the fight sequences and VFX are world class.

As an Indian you feel proud and excited during most parts, to think that we have advanced light years since the days of Bacchan's  “Ajooba”, Jitendra's "Hatimtai" or the TV serial “Alif Laila” and such movies are now being made in India. It is not that we have not seen world class action in Indian cinema before, but where Rajamouli scores over the mindless action movies that Bollywood and regional movie industries regularly churn out, is that he is a good story teller as well. He knows that the importance of a good script, tight screenplay and acting cannot be discounted.  Of course movies with mindless action and extremely poor acting also succeed in India but they do not become classics. Rajamouli wants his name to be among the greats.

Bahubali 2 is a grand Prabhas show, though other characters also have meaty roles. While the actions sequences suit him exceedingly well, he is also competent in romantic, emotional and dramatic sequences. This is a rare combination in Indian cinema at this point. Another young actor suited for action, who is also a fine actor is Rana Daggubati. He has less to do in this installment, except play the menacing antagonist to perfection, but recently “The Ghazi Attack” where he matches someone like KayKay Menon in acting and then this, shows that he too is a complete package.

Ramya of course like the first part, gets into the role of Sivagami spot on, fiery and righteous, but ends up making blunders, blinded by conspiracy and ego. Anuskha Shetty as Devasena, who has a lot more to do in this part, matches Prabhas as a companion and warrior princess. She looks completely suited to take on Sivagami during their scenes of conflict. However the dialogues between them during these scenes are pedestrian. With some more depth in the dialogues, these scenes could have come out much better. Maybe the impact was lost in the Hindi translation, so I gave the benefit of doubt. Tamannah has nothing much to do, does not get even a dialogue, which I felt was a bit strange, she being one of main characters from the first part.

“Why Katappa killed Bahubali” has become a cult question which is an achievement for the Bahubali team. However the reason is predictable and happens exactly as many of us expected. The execution of this sequence leaves some open questions too.

Controversy or not, Satyaraj is again excellent as Katappa, but the sudden comic angle given to him in this part does give some comic relief at times, but compromises his character to some extent. This was not the character we saw in the first part.

Bahubali 2 has many sub plots we have seen in movies or read in stories. Rajamouli has said in interviews that he has been heavily inspired by Ramayana, Mahabharat and Amar Chitra Katha.

The prince and his accomplice roaming around within the common subjects, the prince wooing a woman without her knowing who he is. Intrigues galore in the kingdom, the child of the wronged king surviving and coming back with revenge. Rajamouli does have the talent of pumping up the adrenaline of the viewers and inducing a “wow” for the most clichéd scenes, with his treatment and presentation. However at times some change from predictability was expected.

A great movie should not only be about the protagonist. In Sholay you remember Gabbar Singh and even Surma Bhopali and “Angrezon ke zamane ke jailor” as much as we remember Jay, Veeru and Thakur. Bahubali is too much Prabhas, many of the characters are not used or developed completely. Though he does complete justice to both roles, the character should not become bigger than the movie.

Granted that it is a high fantasy genre and the characters have super human abilities. However at some points especially the climax, the sequence of sending in soldiers into the palace, imagination seems to run unbridled. Some fight sequences of Bahubali and Bhallaldeva seem like people with abilities of Iron Man, Hulk or Thor are fighting. In the VFX department a scene with the bulls with flaming horns does not look perfect. Strangely Bhallaldeva’s fight with the bull was the weak point of VFX in the first part.

Now let us go back to the question asked in the beginning, just to put things into perspective. Is Bahubali as good as say the “The Lord of the Rings”?

The honest answer is No. 

The movie sometimes strays into too much imagination at the cost of the plot, the building up tension or physics, suffers from dilution of excellent sequences and hyper masculinity. 

However it stands tall and looks at the best movies in this genre in the eye, with many ingredients of being world class. More directors would get inspired and I am hopeful that we would produce movies that would beat the best in world cinema in all respects. In due time directors and more importantly the Indian audience would realize, that even a high fantasy movie need not only be about super human machismo; the primary ‘hero’ can also be like a powerless Frodo, in front of whose goodness and spirit, finally even the greatest warriors bow.

Having said that, Rajamouli and his team have given us enough reason to be proud of and are hands down the pioneers of making a world class movie in this genre. No one can take this away from them.

4 stars for Bahubali 2.