If you’ve ever wondered where RRR came from, or how come Tollywood became bigger than Bollywood, Baahubali: The Beginning is the answer to both questions.
RRR was the crossover all-action spectacular that forced the rest of the world to take notice of Tollywood in 2022, and finally pushed it to the number one position in terms of Indian movie-making. In 2022 Tollywood (Telugu-language, centred in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) produced 219 feature films against just 42 from Bollywood (Hindi-language, out of Mumbai, formerly Bombay) – the numbers do not lie.
Nor does the box office. Baahubali: The Beginning had the best box offfice of any Indian film ever when it debuted in 2015, a crown subsequently passed on to its sequel, Baahubali: The Conclusion.
Without Baahubali no RRR. All three movies are directed by SS Rajamouli. All tell epic stories on the grandest of scales. RRR goes back to the end of British rule. The Baahubali movies go much further back, into the time where ancient history and myth cross over, to tell the faintly Moses-like origin story of Shivudu, the orphan baby who grows up to be the saviour of his people, the Mahishmati.
Rajamouli starts in the most grandiose of registers with early scenes set in the river at the base of a huge waterfall, where the baby Shivudu is rescued from the hand of his grandmother, dead but still holding him clear of the waters that have drowned her.
In several heroic jumps, the baby becomes a child becomes a teen becomes a man. Finally, after many failed attempts, Shivudu scales the mountain of rock and water at whose base he has grown up to discover the kingdom of Mahishmati above. His adventure starts here. Meeting and falling in love with a female warrior, Avanthika, who can single-handedly defeat a phalanx of men. Learning he is really Mahendra Baahubali, the royal prince the people have been waiting for to lead them to freedom. Discovering his mother is alive and enslaved. Finding out about the fate that befell his father, Amarendra Baahubali, in an epic battle against the warlike Kalakeya tribe. The end. To be continued in part two.
Game of Thrones was halfway through its run when Baahubali: The Beginning was released and there’s more than a hint of its dynastic cross and double-cross running through the story here. It would be easy to imagine key characters from this movie turning up alongside the Starks, Lannisters and Daenerys and her dragons. Like GoT, the performances here are large and declamatory, with Prabhas doing double duty as both the present-day Baahubali and his father, Amarendra, whose story fills the last hour of the movie in a bold bit of extended-flashback storytelling.
Game of Thrones didn’t do song and dance numbers, but this movie does. The songs are good, too. And though Prabhas isn’t going to win any awards for fancy footwork, he’s convincing enough, and anyway he’s been hired to play a warrior not Fred Astaire, and is gym-toned for various scenes when he’s required to go shirtless.
Of the others, Tamannaah Bhatia stands out as Avanthika, all flashing eyes and warrior attitude. And Tamil favourite Sathyaraj is particularly impressive as the grizzled and imposing warrior Kattappa.
“You are a woman. I am a man. I am here to love you,” Shivudu/Baahubali tells Avanthika before wooing her with an elaborate fight-cum-courting ritual in which he slowly removes one garment after another.
It’s the inventiveness of scenes like this that take Baahubali: The Beginning beyond the everyday. We have all seen grand epics before and so are ready for the vast plains on which huge armies prepare to do battle, or the impressive ancient palaces filled with exotica. Rajamouli also has an eye for the telling detail – the grandmother’s dead hand and the courtship-as-fight are just two among many. And for the grand one – an ingenious strategy is deployed when the battle with the Kalakeya finally kicks off (and I’m not going to ruin it by saying more than that).
So, Shivudu aka Baahubali – brave, gallant, resourceful, strong and cunning. The film – colourful, excessive, fantastical, musical, bloodlusty and massive. The final battle goes on a bit, to be honest, and the second half’s payoff isn’t as much fun as the first half’s setup. But I’m keen to see the sequel. Then it’s on to RRR.
Baahubuli: The Beginning – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2023
