Review of Bāhubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) by Shiv N — 02 May 2017

The wait is finally over. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion is here to answer the question the nation has been waiting to know for two long years- Kattappa ne Bahubali ko kyu mara?

Relax- No spoilers here! You have to go, and watch the movie to find out, just like the rest of us did.

But when you go to watch Baahubali 2, remind yourself of few things-.

1. This is a sequel to Baahubali: The Beginning, so either re-watch that movie, or read the story on Wikipedia, to remind yourself of the story and characters. (If you have not seen that movie, go watch it first. Duh!).

2. If you have seen Baahubali, you know what exactly to expect from this sequel. It is a Telugu movie (irrespective of which dubbed version you see), so the storytelling is inherently grandiosely in nature. So the hero's will have heroic scenes and dialogues, and the villains will have over-the-top background music with extreme close ups to show you the villainy in them.

3. This is a $200 million ambition movie, made with the budget of not even $50 million. So the VFX will at times be with par with international cinema, and at times be extremely patchy. Forgive it for that.

?So I ask you give in, and allow director S. S. Rajamouli to take you on this EPIC journey.?

Yes, the story is a bit been there seen that, but the screenplay is very cleverly written to still keep you entertained and hooked for good three hours. ?And that is a big win for the director and writer V Prasad. ?

?The production and set design are huge, and beautiful (yes, some of it is CGI, but still a great combination). The action sequences are very well choreographed, and have been attempted at international movie level. The art design, and cinematography are breathtaking. The costumes, and make-up are on point. The soundtrack is soulful, and takes the story forward, instead of breaking the narrative. But better than the soundtrack is the background music. What fabulous work. Especially for the scene right before the interval. Outstanding stuff. ?

Acting wise, everyone in the ensemble cast has done a fabulous job. ?Ramya Krishnan as the ego-stricken mother, Sathyaraj as Kattappa the loyal protector looking for redemption, Nassar as the cunning father, and Rana Daggubati as the vengeful brother, have all delivered great performances. ?

But the two people who stand out tall in this movie are ?Prabhas ?plying the original Baahubali and ?Anushka Shetty? playing his love interest. If you liked Baahubali the son, you will love Baahubali the father. The son version was just a small shadow of what the father is. He is everything you expect a "Hero" to be. He has the swagger, flamboyance, and charisma, a "Hero" should have. As for ?Anushka?, she is the strong female character I wanted ?Tamannaah Bhatia ?to be in the first movie. Anushka is strong, and does not back down from her ideals and beliefs, no matter who is on the other side. That's kickass. Bollywood is gonna go ga-ga over these two.

But yes, the movie is not perfect. It has its flaws. There are some continuity faults that I caught. The narrative sometimes becomes a bit self indulgent and looses focus. The climax is not as epic as I expected it to be. And like I said above, the VFX is not perfect. Also, some of the extras insisted on hamming their scenes. But despite these flaws, Baahubali is a huge achievement. It's not just entertaining, it's also one of the most technically sound movie to come out of India. And just for that, you should go watch, enjoy, and support this magnanimously ambitious project.