Bahubali (2015) Review

WARNING: NOT SPOILER-FREE.

Smashing is the word that comes into my mind to describe this movie.

Excellent camerawork, engaging storytelling, compelling acting and all-round superb filming. That 40 million budget was put into VERY good use.

Princes, Queens and Kings actually LOOKED their part. And might I add that Ramya Krishnan was BOSS as the QUEEN. If someone told me she is the queen, I would fall at her feet going "Amma, deivameh!".

I am too overwhelmed to describe how awesome this movie was because the entire time I was beeming with pride on seeing such a well-conceived South Indian film.

Where do I start pinpointing this movie’s excellence?

1)      Female characters with substance

The feminist in me was screaming YAS BITCH YAS seeing women in such important roles getting the same respect as the male characters. The women in this movie are not dolled-up damsels in distress waiting to be rescued. One was a nursing mother, a Queen no less who kicked ass in a dagger while holding a baby in her arms. The next scene was of her breast-feeding babies while having an audience with her royal council which very quickly turned into a bloodbath. And she was not done breastfeeding her babies.  I don’t think even Western movies would depict a woman kicking ass while carrying a child. Did I also mention she walked miles with an arrow on her back carrying a child, killing two assailants while she was bleeding to death? THIS is the kind of strength I wanted to see in female characters.

All hail the Queen!

Tamannah to a certain degree was impressive in her role as a warrior. But her overacting killed it. I got a new sense of respect for her – getting down dirty in mud and wet with blood and muck all over is a very fresh thing to see from her usual roles of pristine, shining beautiful bishoujo. I felt like the director/producers wanted to keep that pristine pretty lady image of hers because I felt that her character could have been ‘more’ than a love interest. Her character development became stunted when she met the Protag.

Fun Fact: Typical sexism in Indian cinema. Not ONE depiction of Tamannah in her warrior outfit when I tried googling it. 

2)      Animation

I wouldn’t compare it to Avatar, but South Indian movies are notorious for using comical aniation quality. I mean look at the disappointment that is Kochaidaiyaan. Good script botched by abysmal animation. But we’re talking about Bahubali here. The animation in this movie was smooth and compatible with the flow of the movie.

This guy was scary-awesome weyh. 

3)      Costumes

This movie is a 3-hour long costume porn. I was jizzing the entire time. The amount of work and dedication put into the costumes were very, very commendable. Beautiful, stylish and practical. The costume and makeup of the Kalakeya people are something to behold! I am even glad that they took the trouble of inventing a ‘barbarian’ language.

4)      Background sceneries

This movie does not disappoint MARK MY WORDS it’s like taking a gander on paradise.

Them abs. UNF.

5)      Acting talent

Apart from Tamannah’s overacting – everyone else was pretty on point with their roles. Everyone nailed their roles flawlessly. It was easier as the younger actors were quite easy on the eyes! Cucilah mata habis-habis! The natural acting was one of the star points of this movie – even the extras were chosen carefully. An epic like this, you can’t have rookies.

6)      Cinematography

The war sequence of this movie is definitely the highlight of this film, apart from the Portag’s gorgeous abs, of course ohoks.

So to sum it up – this movie is worth every penny.

If you’re the kind of machas and machis who prefer garbage like Maari or masala films, I advise you to still watch this movie, in the hope that you will learn to appreciate quality films.

10/10 would recommend.