Baahubali: The Beginning Movie Reviews

Epic is an underrated word, used to describe trivial achievements in today’s day and age. In Hollywood, epic is BEN HUR. In Indian cinema, epic can now officially be called BAHUBALI.

It’s exactly what a blockbuster should be. Hugely entertaining, without ever being dumb.I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Bahubali given that I watched a Hindi dubbed version of the original Telugu film. Rajamouli is indeed a visual storyteller, and he brings the curtains down on this first part of his two-film saga with a curious cliffhanger. I can’t wait for Part 2, which comes next year.

SS Rajamouli’s film holds out many promises: of adventure and romance, love and betrayal, valour and weakness. And delivers magnificently on each of them.

What really makes the film work is that it is, at its heart, a fast-paced adventure, fuelled by themes of questing and redemption. Prabhas is exceptional as the lead, hulking yet charming. Rana Daggubati is perfectly cast as the villain, his performance layered with subtlety and nuance.

The first part of the epic leaves behind dollops of rip-roaring entertainment to relish till it’s back to finish what it started in perhaps even more jaw-dropping manner. Rajamouli incites such confidence.

Be it the war sequences, or sword fighting; or a visual spectacle, or pure entertainment, watch Bahubali this weekend. Kudos to the dedication of S S Rajamouli and his leading men, Prabhas & Rana, for spending years putting this film together. Actually, in it’s imagination & Indianness, Bahubali might just be a whole new start.

Bahubali is beyond your imagination – a film that takes Indian cinema to the next level. Don’t miss it.

It is to the director’s credit that every aspect of the film — action, mind-boggling set design and choreography — lives up to this epic film of gigantic scale. The choreography in the song that has Shiva disrobing Avantika to get her in touch with her feminine side, is an absolute gem.Don’t miss it.

With Bahubali, Rajamouli has given us a new epic that generations from now will watch, analyse and appreciate. It not only sets a milestone in visual technique but also establishes a benchmark in storytelling.

This film is worth watching simply to bask in the future of what Indian epics can be portrayed as, if only someone like Rajamouli can have the courage to visualise it! Watch it – you would want to hold your breath for the sequel.

As a director Rajamouli has grown leaps and bounds, his work is comparable with the best of talent in the world. His grip and mastery over visuals, VFX, and action episodes is exceptional. But he missed this time as he did not come up with a complete entertainer.

There are various factors that have made people curiously looked forward for the release of Baahubali. The first and foremost factor is the Director Rajamouli itself. People pinned a lot of hopes on him. He really stood up to the expectations of the audience.Generally there will be some minor issues, when a big project is handled. Baahubali has also some minor negative aspects which can be easily ignored, when compared with the work done by the whole team for the film.

Despite its shortcomings, Baahubali is a significant marker in Indian film-making and SS Rajamouli’s career for the audacity and unmatched visualization that opens up more avenues for ambitious technicians.

There is frankly little point in us recommending (or not recommending) Baahubali – you’ll watch it anyway. But still, here it is – go watch it. Baahubali gets an A+ for intent and an A- for execution, but it is still an A.

Touted as one of the most expensive films to be made in India, this highly anticipated part one of the two-part period epic, manages to enthrall you with its sheer scale and grandeur. Painstakingly made, paying acute attention to detail for the minutest of sound and visuals, Rajamouli (Eega, Magadheera) , who spent three years making this ambitious film ensures that the larger-than-life execution matches his grandiose vision.

…despite having a first half that is rather slow, and a ballistic second half, a film like BAHUBALI makes you proud that an Indian filmmaker dared to dream big and accomplished it. BAHUBALI is definitely not to be missed. Call it a box-office blockbuster today, but tomorrow, it will be remembered as a classic.

Baahubali is a must watch for its grandeur and is definitely a movie to experience in theaters. However, in case of story telling it has nothing to offer as it has a beaten to death revenge drama as its plot. The movie has its share of moments but the problem comes when you wish to watch a Epic from Rajamouli. So folks, set your minds free and fall in love with Baahubali.

Summing it up, Baahubali is a terrific testimony to what Indian films can do in terms of grand and flamboyant film making and would surely be a landmark film in the annals of Indian film history.

To put it bluntly Bahubali is Rajamouli’s weakest script to date! However it is visually mind-boggling that we could excuse some of its shortcomings. Wish Rajamouli comes up with a packed script in the second part. On the box office front, Bahubali – The Beginning will surely shatter the records irrespective of its weak points.

Rajamouli has reserved all the grander and grandstanding for later, after interval. That’s when the film stands up and begins to strut like an epic. The battle scenes are monumental in scale and accomplished in detail, but lacked urgency and tension. Prabhas has some fun scenes, like when he literally slaps a sharp sword, and the fighting is rather convincing. But the acting, especially of Prabhas and Rana Daggubati, is very action-man like — grimace, clench, flex… But then, what are burly men to do when they have to slit, slash, slit, slash… Here’s hoping that part two will have the emotional drama that was missing here.

Finally, ‘Baahubali’ is a computer graphic dominated film with a weak subject. Though the makers and many have gone gaga over this film as this is an epic, visual wonder, ‘Baahubali’ is neither an epic nor a great one. It falls under a commercial film with computer graphics. More over these kind of folklore films have come to Telugu cinema which the present generation is unaware of. If you look at the old NTR and ANR films, they are comparatively much better than ‘Baahubali’, remember those old films are classics and were made with no computer graphics. You can watch it once!

Scale of ambition: gargantuan. Quality of VFX: out of the ordinary. Content: only occasionally gripping. Final impact: pretty strong.

In Baahubali, SS Rajamouli manages to break many rules even as he stays close to the formulaic path. The film has all the essential ingredients of a mythical epic.

They say, all’s well that ends well! Bahubali: The Beginning is just that. And as it drives into a perfect end you cannot wait to watch the conclusion of this grand saga that will unfold in a few months from now. Behold, Rajamouli brings us India’s very own combo of Game Of Thrones and Lord of The Rings. Excitement overload!

It is a must watch, though the movie may lack in certain places, the visual extravaganza just cannot be ignored. Prabhas, Rana, Anushka, Ramya and Sathyaraj are some of the reasons why you must just book your tickets and head to theater.

As it ends, one hopes that 2016’s Bahubali has none of the above discrepancies and is in true sense of the term India’s answer to Avatar is terms of being a cinematic landmark. For now, this movie is all fluff, that transports you to into another world far-away from yours, done with a lot of help from the VFX team. It is part entertaining, part engaging and part watchable.

The first half of the film is laughable. There’s little character and story development, and too much focus on glorifying the heroism of the lead star. It’s the second-half where the film realises its true potential and is truly engaging. As most Telugu films, we are thrown into a flashback sequence where the director has picturised one hell of a war, complete with a whole new wildling army, the action and bloodshed contributing to multiple eyegasms. The fight sequences and stunts are very well choreographed with some really awe-inducing moments. The song and dance sequences only add to the drag, and could’ve been entirely scissored.

My biggest peeve with this film is the manner in which the characters are drawn- too cartoonish and derived from mainstream Bollywood/Hollywood to curry favor with a discerning audience. Shiva prances about emulating Hrithik and scales mountains and precarious waterfalls a la Tarzan. He is a little too childish to be impressive. The CGI looks fake and for most-times quite unbelievable. the scale of the mounting may be huge but it just doesn’t measure up to reality.

Baahubali, despite its epic dimensions — with a tendency to copy larger-than-life Hollywood heroic tales like Ben-Hur and Troy — fails at some level to draw us into the narrative. Even one of the first scenes of a huge statue being erected with the help of slaves works in a very limited way to capture audience attention or set the mood for images of flying swords and falling boulders.

Bahubali is truly an epic experience. Had the story not been so jaded, this would’ve gone into the history books as an all-time classic. But that’s not the case. It has its set of storytelling flaws, but even those are overshadowed by Rajamouli’s ideas and execution. This is definitely worthy of being India’s most expensive film. It’s a definite movie watching experience.

…all said and done, Baahubali: The Beginning is a remarkable achievement. What Rajamouli has pulled off here, despite its flaws, is nothing short of a miracle, especially when you take into account India’s notoriously risk-averse filmmaking environment and when the film ends on a tantalising cliffhanger (paving the way for Baahubali: The Conclusion, due to release next year), once can’t help but applaud his singularly brave vision. As the cliché goes, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step, but it doesn’t really matter if that first step is shaky as long as it lands firmly and confidently.

For the incomparable visuals; for the strong portrayal of women in several roles; for the chiselled Rana Daggubati and Prabhas who look good enough to eat; for the great battle scenes; for the captivating story line; and mostly for your own thorough entertainment. This movie is 100% paisa vasool.

The film, produced by Karan Johar and Anil Thadani, is an adrenaline rush, a spectacle of the kind we haven’t seen from an Indian film-maker before and hopefully it is a sign of good things to come. Rajamouli ends the film with a cliffhanger so that you buy tickets to the sequel that comes out next year.

That Rajamouli knows his way around VFX was evident in Eega, but he negotiates the massive jump in scale well. Everything is designed for maximum impact—if there are bales of straws, you can be sure they’ll be set on fire so that a chariot can be driven through them. The vistas that unfold have a digitally enhanced grandeur that’s familiar from films such as Troy and Exodus: Gods and Kings, modern versions of the old sword and sandal epics. Bhallala Dev’s chariot even has a whirring scythe attached to it—a little visual tribute to Ben-Hur.

In the midst of filmmakers who think they’re giving us spectacle by going to virgin foreign locations and shooting mountains and flowers, Rajamouli gives us more… and more. This isn’t just about grandeur in visuals. It’s about grandeur in ideas.

…is indeed the grandest and classic film that Indian audience will witness. Exceptionally well executed by S.S. Rajamouli. Right from the story to every location and background score, the dramatic movie will keep you amazed till the end.

S. S. Rajamouli has managed to produce a mighty masterpiece, scaling high in all areas that one can expect him to. If Magadheera was all about his story telling skills, Baahubali is more proof of what he can do with serious technical brilliance at his disposal. This will definitely rank as one of the path-breakers in Indian Cinema and a priceless feather in the caps of all those associated with the movie!

…is a triumph of size, scale and spectacle. SS Rajamouli’s eye-popping period spectacle raises the bar for the Indian action movie by several notches. Every frame pulsates with the passion of a filmmaker openly staking his claim as the most adventurous soul travelling through mainstream cinema at the moment.