Bahubali 2 : The Conclusion Review

CAST

Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka, Tamanna, Ramya Krishna, Satya Raj, Nasser and Others

Director - SS Rajamouli
Producer - Sobhu Yarlagadda, Prasad Devin
Banner - Arka Media Works
Music - MM Keeravani

The epic conclusion of the most awaited Baahubali is here. SS Rajamouli who has set the benchmark pretty high with his vision and grandeur in the beginning of Baahubali has exceeded expectations yet again with the conclusion. This is easily the most hyped movie ever in Indian cinema history. Rajamouli like always has managed to meet the sky high expectations with his immaculate imagination and great vision.

What is it about?

Amarendra Baahubali (Prabhas) goes on a pilgrimage to know the problems of his people. He comes across the princess of Kuntala, Devasena (Anushka) and falls in love. He doesn't disclose his details and goes along with her. Devasena also falls for him. Later she comes to know that he is Baahubali, the King of Mahishmathi. However, Devasena gets into the bad books of Sivagami (Ramya Krishna) due to Ballaladeva (Rana). Baahubali is forced to choose either the throne or Devasena. He chooses the latter and Ballaladev is crowned as the King. But he is not happy with it as he couldn't win people's love and respect like Baahubali. So a conspiracy is cooked up by Ballala and his evil father Bijjala Deva (Nasser). Baahubali gets killed by Kattappa (Satya Raj) and Mahendra Baahubali wages war against Ballala to avenge his father's death.

Performances:

Prabhas who looked jaded and subdued in the first part is in his elements in this one. His voice and demeanor suited the role of a king. While he is extremely good as Amarendra Baahubali, he did an okay job as Mahendra Baahubali. Rana is pretty impressive as Ballala Deva who is jealous of Baahubali's charm and popularity. He is like a raging bull in the climax fight. Anushka takes the cake with a wonderful performance. It is easily the best performance in her career so far. Ramya Krishna is superb as the mother caught between two brothers. Satya Raj enlivened his character and Nasser is excellent as Bijjala Deva.

Technicalities:

Rajamouli focused totally on emotions and the drama. It is his forte and the master filmmaker excels in bringing out the best from his actors. There is his stamp all over the film that sometimes his vision overshadows the actors. It is a dream like movie for any filmmaker and Rajamouli brought it to life. His vision and imagination is unbelievably astonishing. His deft handling of Kattappa killing Baahubali episode shows how good a filmmaker he is. Rajamouli is arguably the best director in Indian cinema industry at the moment. While there are directors who attempt such movies, no one can even come close to him in terms of vision and execution.

Keeravani's music is excellent. It is one of the finest works of the legendary music composer. Although Keeravani excelled with BGM he couldn't come up with catchy tunes. The cinematography of KK Senthil Kumar, without which, Baahubali would not be such a visually rich experience. Art department's work is praiseworthy. Visual effects are stunning all through barring a few glitches here and there. Editing is alright. They could have done with the lengthy romantic episode of Baahubali and Devasena. Producers should be lauded for making a film of this scale without any compromise. Without them Baahubali wouldn't have been possible.

Thumbs Up:

Rajamouli's vision

Emotional quotient

Pre interval episode

Cinematography

Thumbs Down:

Unnecessary comedy in first half

Weak climax  

Analysis:

If Baahubali: The Beginning is all about visual grandeur and graphics, The Conclusion focuses on the emotional conflict of the principal characters. Movie starts off with a stunning scene where Bijjala asks Ballala to kill his mother to which Kattappa comes up with a deadly retort. Baahubali's grand entry with the elephant scene is breathtakingly beautiful followed by a well choreographed Bhali Bhali song.

Tempo slips a bit after that as Baahubali gets into romance zone. Devasena's introduction scene is yet another fantastic moment in the first half. Romance episode of Baahubali slows down the pace but the story gains momentum as Ballala gets into his evil act. Baahubali taking on the attackers of Kuntala is one of the best scenes which demands repeated viewings. Rajamouli like always stores his best scene for the interval episode which will give goose bumps. People shouting Baahubali's name while he is taking oath as the commander in chief and Keeravani's spectacular background score makes it one of the best ever scenes in Rajamouli's films.

While first half is all about Baahubali's heroics, second half focuses on his righteous nature and his life as a commoner. Screenplay loses momentum as the plot thickens. Special efforts have been put to make the 'Why did Kattappa Killed Baahubali' episode to live up to the expectations. One would expect the confrontation of Mahendra Baahubali and Ballaladev to be an epic, but it is very underwhelming. Even the climax war scene is a bit over the top and unconvincing. This may disappoint fans that are expecting another Kalakeya kind of war experience.

People that have complained about lack of emotional depth in the first part will surely be thrilled with this one as it is an emotional roller coaster all the way. But people that are expecting another spectacle like the first part will be left disappointed as Rajamouli bravely sticks to the story rather than the visual grandeur. As a film, Baahubali 2 is definitely better than its predecessor and is also one of the best works of Rajamouli. It is surely worth the hype and all the existing box office records will eventually bow down to its might. Go watch it in theaters.

Verdict: Sahore : Bahubali
CINE GOSSIPS RATING : 3.75/5

Okkadu Sequel Is On The Buzz

'Okkadu', this iconic Telugu film directed by Gunasekhar transformed Mahesh, a potential actor into a star. The film appeased both the class and mass audiences alike and remains a landmark film in Mahesh's career. Now, a potential script for the film's sequel has reportedly been readied.

Okkadu was remade in Tamil as Gilli. Starring Vijay in lead role, the remake was directed by Tamil director Dharani who helmed Pawan Kalyan's 'Bangaram'. Dharani has recently divulged that he has prepared the script for sequel to Gilli and that he has already narrated the story to Vijay. He is ready to take the project onto floors once Viajy gives his nod.

On the other hand, neither Mahesh nor Gunasekhar looks to have any plans to make a sequel to Okkadu. While Mahesh is being inundated with a slew of fresh scripts by new age directors, Gunasekhar is pooling resources to make Prataparudrudu.

First Look: Aaradugula Bullet

Gopichand's long awaited film in B Gopal direction, produced by Thandra Ramesh is at last seeing light with Aaradugula Bullet confirmed as title. Producer Ramesh officially announced May release unveiling an action packed first look poster.

Gopichand is as usual looking modish and smart. Sumo blasts in the poster symbolized B Gopal's trade mark action. After creating wonders with Samarasimha Reddy, Indra and Narasimha Naidu, director B Gopal promises one more trendsetting flick Aaradugula Bullet in this summer.
While Nayantara is playing Gopichand's romantic interest, the film is rich at casting with Prakashraj, Kota, Brahmanandam and others. Vakkantham Vamsi provided the story while Mani Sharma composed music.

Rama And Krishna, Help This Hot HR Lady

Loads of talent, oodles of sex appeal, but a lack of luck. That's how one can define dusky beauty Regina Cassandra at the moment. While actresses who have debuted after her are having 4-5 big ticket films in hand, this expressive-eyed girl is lacking behind.

Other day Regina's latest Telugu film was rolled out and it happens to be a debutant's directorial and another debutant's first film as hero. Titled "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" the film has Arjun Sai at the helm while newcomer Dileep Prakash will be seen opposite Regina in this rom-com. Guess what, our hottie is playing the role of an HR executive in a software company. She will be having this unending love for traditional art forms and the film's title says rest of all. 

Fans of the actress feel that both Rama and Krishna should now help Regina to score a big hit as an HR lady such that her position will be cemented here. While Krishna Vamsi's "Nakshatram" is getting ready for a release, fans are having mixed thoughts about this films due to the delays associated with it. 

There is another interesting happening in this movie. Yesteryear heroine Amani who was last seen in Chandamama Kathalu will be seen as Regina's mother in the film.

Can Prasad Give Same Hit To Powerstar?

Young director Atlee has made a fantastic debut with "Raja Rani" and then his second film "Theri" is a big blockbuster. And now, to make his next outing with Kollywood Powerstar Vijay another sensational hit, this director is on the way carving out an action thriller.

Being publicised as #Vijay61, another speciality of this film that has Kajal Agarwal, Samantha and Nitya Menon in the leads is that, it has a story written by none other than Vijayendra Prasad. Though this writer's stories haven't given hits for directors other than his son, the success of Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijan changed his fate completely. Now big stars are after him for stories and he provided an action thriller to Vijay as well.

At a time when Bollywood is going critical on Salman Khan for his routine commercial story selection, Bajrangi Bhaijan proved to be his magic wand that changed the opinion of all. That's why Salman feels he is indebted to Vijayendra Prasad for this story. Will Vijay also meet with a similar fate now? He's also under the scanner of critics from a while for picking those routine and hapless stories. Can Prasad give a similar hit to Tamil Powerstar as well?

Today evening, the first look of Vijay's new movie will be released. Hope he will experiment with his looks at least this time.

ALLU ARJUN IS THE BEST STORY PICKER IN MEGA FAMILY!

Earlier there used to be one feeling in filmmakers that Megastar Chiru is the perfect decision maker when it comes to selecting right stories. Those stories rejected by all and picked by Chiru have proved their mettle at the box office. Also, there are those that didn't impress Chiru but he picked them for directors and those films failed commercially.

That's the reason even many of Ram Charan's films are taken care of by Chiranjeevi at the editing table as well. Those that got his sign of approval always clicked at the box office. But coming to the young mega clan, including Pawan Kalyan, Ram Charan, Varun Tej, Sai Dharam Tej and also Sirish, these young heroes are not having such meticulous story picking abilities. Many of their own selection choices ended up as duds at box office.

But Allu Arjun is proving to be different from all the mega heroes. Though many heroes said no to Sarrainodu story, he picked it up and made 70+ crores hit. Rejected by top heroes, he dared to do a cameo as Gona Gannareddy and literally saved the whole of Rudramadevi movie. For Vedam, he knows it is an experiment and it failed as he expected.

Looking at these happenings, should we not say that Allu Arjun has emerged as next Best Decision Maker among all mega heroes? If DJ Duvvada Jagannadam to succeeds at the box office, a story that Harish Shankar narrated to many before Bunny, then this mega hero's true abilities will be understood