Disclaimer: This post will be longer than Baahubali 2 Interval break. 🙂 :P. Sit Back, read and give your honest feedback.
Ever since I watched the film on the second day of its worldwide release, I was itching to write a piece on the epic storytelling of the film. But I pulled myself back just to witness what it has in store for the generations to come. Meanwhile, I watched it two more times, one with my best friend where I was able to discuss /share an honest opinion on the film. The other with my joint family of 22 members (missed some though), where I got to know their opinions. So, we (me & my family) invested approximately Rs. XYYY (:P) on this once in a lifetime movie. Calling it a movie will devalue the hard work put in by the team, it is a journey into the world of Mahishmati for 170 minutes. What else could be the perfect day than to write a piece on the first Indian film which amazed the 1000 crores mark?
A simple story with epic storytelling:
It all started when K Vijeyendra Prasad (father of SSR) came up with the story. The story was that long that it couldn’t be possible in one straight movie. So, they decided to break it down as “The Beginning” and “The Conclusion”. SSR who knew Vijayendra Prasad from a hair’s distance (Literally copied this line from my friend HHB) was obviously the perfect match to take it upon his shoulders. The best part of this franchise is, makers were aware that they are going to do two parts back to back, no matter what the result would be after the release of the first part. I have never seen this happen in Bollywood. The business hungry Bollywood would prefer a sequel only if they feel that the first part was received well by the audience. Also, a Bollywood sequel will happen with at least 2 to 3 years of gap in between. The following picture clearly shows how long it took for the top grossing Bollywood films to come up with a sequel.
The Grit of SS Rajamouli:
We all have imaginations but bringing them into reality is what directors are capable of. SS Rajamouli is a king of fantasy imaginations. The sets he put up for the film are all interlinked. A 100ft tall Rana statue has been erected in part 1 of the movie only to make it a part of the unimaginable climax. He is the master of connecting dots. If we observe it carefully, we get to know that successful directors always give an example of a scene which will eventually change the course of the movie. For instance take Rajinikanth’s Shivaji and its director Shankar as an example, the scene which shows the CPR scene (electric shock scene) will change the course of the movie at the end. Similarly, in BB2 also Rajamouli gives a preview of “Raakshasa Dahanam” at the start only to make it bigger and the best in the climax. The following scene is the first of the many goosebumps scenes in the movie and you get a feeling that this movie is a different league altogether.
The hero elevation + the BGM = Sure shot Goosebumps within the first 10 mins of the film. The following shot was another out of mind thinking from the director. There are many scenes in the film which will make you go “WOW” time and again.
Working is different from working under pressure. As a student, we all have experienced that how difficult it is/was for us to score more than “Sharma ji ka beta” every single time in our life. Now imagine the position of SS Rajamouli, pressure from producers, star cast, crew, time factor and audience across the globe. Adding to the vows he also needs to outsmart every Sharma ji ka beta out there to give the best. And he did it for every second for the past 5 years. The fact that SSR gave his 100% for the smallest of the small things in the movie shows his commitment for the Baahubali Franchise. Although, I liked all of his movies, have never been an ardent fan of his work, this movie (BB2) has certainly changed that for many including me. There were some contradicting scenes from BB1 to BB2, but they have been swept away in the success tsunami of this film.
Music, Star Cast, Hardworking Crew, Responsible Producers:
Apart from the director, each and everyone has excelled in their respective fields. There was no sign of compromise in the entire film. MM Keeravani is surely the backbone of this film. If it is not for the BGM “Hey Sa Rudrasaa” I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have watched it thrice. If you observe & listen carefully, there is indeed a story in every song itself. Also, the idea of ending Baahubali 1 with a suspense came from the Music Maestro Keeravani. He was the pioneer of “Why Kattappa Killed Baahubali” and thereby building a brand for the same.
People on Social Media have started suggesting the Bollywood and other woods stars as the replacement for this film. But little did they know is – No one, I say no one could have matched this cast. SSR already contacted some biggies who rejected the project. So, put a full stop to all those theories and enjoy the once in lifetime performances from the new age stars of Tollywood.
Putting an end to the film’s internal factors here because I don’t want to repeat the same old story like – “Prabhas is great for contributing 5 long years”, “Rana looks stronger than Prabhas, he is the perfect match for Bhalla role” etc. You guys have already heard about these.
So, now let’s talk about external factors of the film.
Collections do matter:
The two main goals of any film are Entertainment+Business. One being internal and the other is external. A film of this magnitude which includes an investment of over 400 crores from the producers surely needs a brand. It can build one for itself only if it can cross the territories and impress the cross territory biggies as well as the audience. This is what happened exactly with this franchise. BB1 has created an extraordinary word of mouth and brand which resulted in the collections of BB2. On a scale of 10, Baahubali was already 9 and the only 1 it needed was a production house like Dharma which would eventually lift it up globally. Thanks to Karan Johar who made this a reality. He was pretty sure that this film would fare more or less equally to that of Bollywood biggies. At the end, we are here talking about a Tollywood film which racked up 1000 crores in the International market within 10 days of its release thereby dethroning all the films to become the India’s biggest blockbuster. Although it was Karan directly responsible for the collections tsunami, it was Rana who played the role of catalyst. He has constantly spoken about this film in different film circuits. His cameo performances in Hindi and Tamil made sure that he has rich contacts and fame in other film circuits which immensely helped the film.
Collections do matter because they are the direct examples of how the audience has received the film. Fu*k those review sites, no two people in this world will have same mindsets. It is only after watching a film we get to know what we felt about it, not by reading reviews. If a film has got the collections as of a holiday (30 Cr nett. only in Hindi that too for a dubbed film) on a working Tuesday, it gives a crystal clear idea how well the movie has been received by the people despite knowing that it is a dubbed movie with absolutely NO Bollywood stars. Makers also did a great job for the dubbed version. Apart from song lyrics, most of them liked the dubbed movie.
It would take a separate article altogether to list each and every record created/broken by this film. Out of all those records, one record speaks volumes – “Baahubali 2 holds the record for highest grossing 1st-week collections in each and every state of India (29 states) and also in the national capital New Delhi”.
North vs South:
This “North vs South” debate is never ending because you are not convinced that easily. Healthy competition between different film circuits is good but it shouldn’t cross the limits in terms of comparison. Trolls are OK but dissing each other is very sad. Every film made in India is an Indian Film first and the corresponding “WOOD” next. Similarly, Baahubali is a proud Indian film made with years of hard work by Tollywood people. After all those records, if you still feel that Baahubali is a South Indian or regional film then I can understand your IQ level and the ultimate joke is on you. It should get the credit it deserves. After all the North vs South buzz, movies like these will add up to the glory of Indian Cinema only. When the makers don’t have a problem calling it an Indian cinema, we should also do the same.
The Bollywood Syndrome:
There are tons of people who ridicule South Indian movies, little did they know is Bollywood is constantly doing the remakes of the same ridiculed movies. Indian Cinema is beyond Khans, Kapoors and obviously Bollywood, time and again South movies have been proving this. Baahubali is the resounding example for the same. When the whole of Khan-dan and Bollywood trying to reach the 1000 Cr mark from years. Baahubali has done it in ‘Virender Sehwag’ style (10 days).
Why the special attention for Bollywood:
Almost half of India believe that Bollywood is the only film industry which produces quality movies. The standard it set is damn too high. Even a newcomer of Bollywood amazes 100 Cr with ease. Again collections here directly implies the audience reach. Inspired by Hollywood and their media, our so called media regularly shows the favoritism of ‘Bollywood film’ to describe a blockbuster of Bollywood and ‘Indian Cinema’ for any other blockbuster from other film industries. An example for this is, Dangal is called as “Bollywood film” whereas Baahubali is called as “Indian film”. This has been the common practice for many years. The only way to remove the bias is to give tough competition to Bollywood with films like Baahubali.
I thought about an analogy to describe how Bollywood gets it due to credit every single time whereas other film industries don’t. Here it is –
Bollywood films are like a post made by Nationwide popular Facebook page (say Rajnikant v/s CID Jokes – RVCJ) whereas other industry films are the same post done by less popular Facebook pages (say XYZ). Now if at all we like that post made by RVCJ we share it with others by saying the name of the FB page. If we come across the same post in any XYZ page (many of us don’t remember the less popular FB page names) we share it by saying we came across this post on Facebook. (say Indian Cinema). Hope I made it clear MSM. 😀
Note: Sharing here means telling him/her in physical, not on social apps. Also, don’t laugh at this analogy, I tried at least. 🙂
Lessons Bollywood can learn from South:
- Every Bollywood film spends at least 5% on marketing. In other words, they simply impose their views with dozens of brands and their ads. South cinema does the least marketing. For example, a movie like Kabali has racked up 350 Cr + with just a single teaser which of 1min and 7 secs. Till date, there was no trailer for this film. Superstar was never seen promoting the film, not even a single tweet from his official handle. Air Asia and other popular brands themselves went to the makers to strike a deal.’
- Baahubali 2 has spent approximately 2 to 3 crores on marketing and promotions. Still, they tied up with 15+ brands. When you have quality content, brands will reach you automatically. There is no need to insert a brand within the film itself.
- Never make a movie for money. Take any South director, they will talk about the hard work they put in, unlike the collections they got.
My Favourite scenes of Baahubali 2:
Even though there was a WOW factor throughout the movie, if I had to pick a favorite scene, these two will stand out for me.
In following both the scenes, Double ‘S’, ‘R'(SSR) released 3 aRRRows at a time. RRR – Royalty, Romance, and Response
1.
2.
PS : Thanks to my friends Yogesh, Sushruth, Mythreya and Bindu for a tweet/message support to write this article. 🙂
Sharath Chandra 