Baahubali - Analysis

***No spoilers whatsoever***

Firstly, the big question, does Baahubali work? Yes, big time. How? Rajamouli who is master at dealing with revenge stories deals with yet another one on a bigger canvas. In short, that's what Baahubali is. What works in it's favor are no boring moments, brilliant visuals first time ever in Indian cinema,most intense edge of seat thrilling action/war episode first time ever in Indian cinema, beautifully designed to detail sets first time ever in Indian cinema and a story with many emotional highs, sometimes goosebumps inducing.

What else could have added up to the movie are first and foremost brilliant background score could have enhanced the movie but here it just lives up to the scenes. Next are actors. Once all the dust settles down, that's what everyone might talk about. How actors were just okay. Prabhas looked perfect in Baahubali roles but his dialogue delivery and diction are still patchy. Rana who acted as a villain in the Rajamouli movie falls below expectations when compared to villains in previous Rajamouli movies. Rana could not look the menacing mean villain as expected. He was also just okay. Tamannah's body language is a bit odd and childish in her role. Nazar and Adivi Sesh got very routine roles with not much acting scope. Two people who take the cake for best acting are Satyaraj and Ramya Krishna. Satyaraj showed his class in the well written role while Ramya totally dominated like boss whenever she is on screen. Anushka does good in few scenes given to her in her limited role and hoping to see her take the next part to a different level altogether.

Yes there are cliched scenes through out the movie but given the budget and the money at stake one cannot expect an experimental script and Rajamouli should be appreciated for not experimenting. Coming to comparisons yes there are inspirations from 300 or Game of thrones but harmless and not too obvious. One cannot demean Baahubali by calling it copy of either just like you cannot write off Kill Bill as Kamal Hasan's Aalavandhan copy.

Coming to songs, there are only three full songs. Dheevara is visually brilliant. Pacha bottesina and Manohari are just passable. But watch out for Prabhas in Manohari, he looked his best in that song.

With all above things working against it, Baahubali is still an epic that deserves all it's hype and will stand tall as a movie that can represent the true technical standards of Indian cinema which is also very well supported by a decent script, tight screenplay, good emotional highs, an awesome war episode and stunning sets and visuals. This is sure shot blockbuster material and non-Telugu audience might like it more as it might look more fresh to them, script wise and emotional content wise.