I can recall some years ago that almost all the houses I got to, they were either watching a romantic Indian movie or an action Indian movie, and despite the long hours of the movie. We will sit there from the start to the finish, we even tried dancing like them those days. So when I saw “Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali” trending as some type of unsolved mystery online even a few years after the movie got released. I finally decided to watch it for the first time around 2019, and I watched it again in 2023 just to have a better understanding of what I watched. I will be giving a very detailed review according to how I understood everything I watched in this movie.
As some of us know, most of the Indian movies back in those days hardly spoke English. And we either watched their demonstration or read the subtitles, the same way with Baahubali, which the Telugu language was spoken through the movie. It was directed by Rajamouli S.S, and was released in 2015, over ten years ago. Looking at the major people who starred in this movie as I can recall. Prabhas played two roles, the first role as Shivudu, a village boy raised without knowing his real background, and the second role as his own father, Amarendra Baahubali, in an extended flashback. Tamannaah Bhatia plays Avantika, the warrior girl Shivudu falls for at the beginning of the movie. Bhallaladeva, his cousin and rival, and Anushka Shetty play Devasena. Had to recheck the spelling of those names to be sure.
Anyway, Baahubali, the movie, all began with Sivagami, a queen who escaped some soldiers while carrying her baby, and at a waterfall, she gave up herself just for the baby to survive. And this baby was the main character in the movie who grew up in a tribal village with no foggiest knowledge of who and what he was, until one day. He did what his mother used to tell him not to do by climbing up a massive waterfall out of curiosity and a mysterious wooden mask, and ever since then, there was this drive in him that set off in him.
I watched this movie with one of my friends again. And what I noticed at first was how this movie got so intense at some point by taking out its own scale, armies, waterfalls, and even the entire kingdom, and all of these didn't seem rushed. It was just like I was watching something that was built out of intentionality and ambition rather than all these rushed screen effects.
Though as an Indian movie that it was, some scenes look a bit off to me, though, like all these random dancing and singing that has nothing to do with the movie, even in the middle of a tense scene. And after the movie shifted its focus a bit, the way the Avantika character just went into thin air because looking at the main plot. I mean, in the beginning, she was like a main bridge to get Shivudi, then someone with her own arc.
But later in the movie, I got to realize why some things were done and why it was a massive cultural moment, especially when Kattappa began to give a detailed explanation about Baahubali's father and the fight for the throne. All these little things alone deserves much respect because it is not always that some movie gets accolades outside their country, I'm giving one now.
Overall, aside from some few detours and dramatic dancing that I earlier mentioned, this movie was worth my time, and wgar happened in the end will want you go for the part 2.
Other images are screenshots from my movie player
Rating: 85/100
Rating: 85/100