How Baahubali 2 might have been inspired by the Disney classic The Lion King

Looks like someone beat Jon Favreau and Disney before they bring to life the live action version of The Lion King in 2018.

Because it is the internet, there are millions of fan theories going on about SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster Baahubali and the recently released sequel to the film_._ Now it looks like other than looking to Indian classics like Mahabharata for inspiration, Rajamouli might have been a Disney fan.

A Quora thread and a few twitter users have been speculating how Baahubali is similar to The Lion King.

There are striking similarities between both the films that cannot be ignored at all.

Both the stories are are about royal families and how the chosen one is going to be the right king, who can rule over the kingdom fairly.

Don’t Bhallaladev (Rana Daggubati) and Scar from The Lion King look the same? They also have similar roles as this blog post by Raju Alluri points out.

He writes, “It is the King’s antagonist brother Bhallaladeva that masterminds the killing of Amarendra Bahubali and in The Lion King the King’s antagonist brother Scar that plans the killing of Mufasa (the little lion cub).”

Mind = Blown pic.twitter.com/SjgauXkVsE

— pause (@baajighar) May 4, 2017

The way Baahubali and Simba are introduced to the world is also similar:

The Lion King (1994)
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) pic.twitter.com/8F28L2sGNY

— Lord Meow (@RanjibMazumder) April 29, 2017

Scar imprisons his brother’s wife, Sarabi, after killing him, much like Bhallala Deva does to Baahubali’s wife, Devasena. Alluri’s post also pointed out how Mahendra Bahubali wanted to explore more of his kingdom as a king and was adventurous. This mirror’s Simba’s explorative interests as a cub.