 "'Baahubali: The Epic' Movie Review: Prabhas-Rana Daggubati-SS Rajamouli's remastered single-film version of two-part saga is nostalgic, high-octane & enthralling")
Star cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, Nassar, Adivi Sesh and Subbaraju
Director: SS Rajamouli
After Sholay, SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali redefined Indian cinema across the globe with its larger-than-life characters, story and landscape. Now, the maverick filmmaker has re-edited and remastered a single-film version of his two-part blockbuster saga Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) by combining the footage of both films along with enhancements and adding unseen scenes. While the majority of the audience has seen the Baahubali franchise on the big screen and other mediums, SS Rajamouli intrigues for this version with his technical brilliance.
For the unversed (who have not watched Baahubali 1 and 2), the story chronicles the life of Shivadu (Prabhas), who is raised in the tribals and his adventurous journey he learns about his royal heritage of the Mahishmati kingdom and is now on a mission to liberate it from the nefarious hands of his uncle Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati) and take revenge from him for being the main conspirator of his father and great king’s death Amerandra Baahubali (Prabhas) and helding his mother Devasena (Anushka Shetty) as captive and torturing her for 25 years.
Well, being an ardent Baahubali fan, who has watched both parts several times in theatres and OTT, I was very sceptical about how SSR would pull it off and create excitement among the audience to watch the content, which the whole country has seen many times.
But, Rajamouli, who is currently the biggest filmmaker in the country, knows the pulse of the audience like no one else. With crisp and sharp editing and larger-than-life visuals, the director smoothly blended both parts and removed several songs and unnecessary scenes, with the addition of some technically enhanced sequences, which made it more impactful.
Well, both parts of _Baahubali_ made Prabhas the biggest pan-Indian star, and once you watch this film, you will understand why it happened. Right from Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan, and Tamannaah Bhatia to Sathyaraj and Nassar, every character made a memorable mark with their powerful portrayals.
Fun fact: Unless I watched Baahubali: The Epic, I never realised that the character of Bhallaladeva’s son Bhadra is played by Adivi Sesh.
The power of Rajamouli and Baahubali is validated enough when you know every frame and what will happen, and despite watching it at a stretch of 3 hours and 45 minutes, and enjoy every bit of it.
On the whole, Baahubali: The Epic is a nostalgic trip to the biggest and redefining Indian cinema, which shouldn’t be missed.
Rating: 3.5 (out of 5 stars)
Baahubali: The Epic is playing in cinemas
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