BAHUBALI- THE BEGINNING: The Grand & Glorious ‘Game of Throne’, Rajamouli Style! [3.5/5]

Can you watch a film just for its flawless brilliance at technical fronts for like 3 hours? Why not? If the vision, passion and implementation are guided by none other than one of most imaginative filmmakers in India today Mr. S S Rajamouli, it doesn’t really look or feel a hard task. Though the plot sounds submissive to the south Indian emotions at its purest form and doesn’t quite amaze you like the filmmaker’s previous best EEGA in which he dares us to feel for a fly seeking vengeance for its murder in past life, BAHUBALI- THE BEGINNING succeeds to surprise you with its grandeur scale, breathtaking visuals, high-octane drama and a cinematic excellence mostly achieved in VFX technology. This is definitely something you have never seen before on Indian screen, and I am vouching mostly for the visual effect parts.

If you have crossed the 30th milestone of your life and could remember your parents/grandparents telling you the bedtime-stories that always had same starting line as ‘once upon a time, there was a king…’; the plot of BAHUBALI- THE BEGINNING will never look an extraterrestrial to you. Shiva [Prabhas] is a strong young man with miraculous powers raised by a tribal family. His real identity is under-wrap till he meets the love of his life Avanthika [Tamannaah] and decides to help her in a rescue-mission. The twists in the tale aren’t much unseen but the way they drop their curtains are very much dramatic and dynamic. A mother is waiting in custody for his son to come and set her free. The people of a territory are waiting for their savior in shining armor to save them from the evil forces. And there lies the legend of love, hope, betrayal and valor!

Rajamauli makes sure every frame of the film tempts your eyes with spectacularly larger-than-life visuals painted beautifully on screen. Be it the hike on the invincible waterfall, lifting up the gigantic Shiva Linga or the war-sequence in the finale; you can’t hold yourself being an admirer of Rajamouli’s amazing visualization and the art & craft to bring one’s dream out in reality with so much confidence. The landscape of a fictional kingdom Mahishmati is created in great details. Watching this film could lure the outsiders from different parts of the world to explore the outskirts of our beautiful country but only to find a much degraded, tainted and spoiled ruins with packaged food wrappers flying here and those passionate ‘love-confessions’ written there on the walls.

Prabhas is the second best thing happened to BAHUBALI- THE BEGINNING, first being the visual effects of course. The stature, strength and swag he brings with him on screen are matchless. He is fiery and could switch well between the emotional and the action scenes. Rana Daggubati is perfectly cast as the mean, mighty and scheming counterpart to Prabhas. Tamannaah and Anushka Shetty hardly impress. Ramya Krishnan is superb and I love the way she walks into frames like a tigress. She sure hasn’t lost the sparks in her beauty. Sudeep makes a quick appearance with a promise to be back in the second part.  

Overall, BAHUBALI- THE BEGINNING is a film best celebrated for one man’s passion to dream beyond boundaries and the biggest accomplishment achieved by the Indian cinema in terms of visual effects and graphics. The conventional content and overtly melodramatic emotions may make you cringe in your seats for more than a couple of times but I think you should never ask yourself the question I asked at the very start in this write-up. Watch it, at least once; as our traditional story-telling takes another leap. [3.5/5]                        

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE: A Guilty Pleasure! And a fight for glory glorified!! [3/5]

Do not judge me if I find the atrociously murderous but fascinatingly choreographed, performed and designed battle sequences in Noem Murro’s photographic textbook in visual effects ‘300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE’ beautiful, awe-striking and totally engaging. As much as its super-successful predecessor, this latest in series too rides high on the finesse in the visual part where most of the elements are imagined, created and celebrated on highly resourceful ‘gigantic in efficiency’ graphic machines.

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE is not a typical sequel movie. It does not try to connect from where the earlier was left. Instead, it throws you in different zones on the same timeline to tell you a new missed or ‘deliberately forgotten’ plot. Bathed in gold, Xerxes of Persia [A stylish fanatic played by Rodrigo Santoro] is returned from the pit of darkness as an invincible power of wrath & vengeance. His only reason to walk the path is to turn Greece into ashes in want to revenge his father’s death. Though the vocal medium is sure of his, words are clearly marked properties of Artemisia [The beautified version of evil forces played by Eva Green]. To ensure a good combat, there is Themistocles [Sullivan Stapleton] of Athens who doesn’t rest to leave any stone unturned to bring all of Greece states under one banner but as we recall from the earlier, the 300 of Spartans have been butchered by the enemy strength and now, the only hope is to fight till you die.

Jam-packed with impressive slow-motion shots with eagle-eye of detailing captured beautifully to enhance 3-dimensional viewing, 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE is a guilty pleasure to enjoy excessive blood & gore war scenes where men are getting beheaded every now and then; one lifeless head even gets a smooch in one freaky scene, blood spatters like water in the shower and thousands are being slashed, sliced and slit in the name of glory. Considering a great job at the VFX table, film looks amazing in every frame. Action sequences are hysterically breathtaking. But where it hurts the most, is the unfulfilled requirement of a good storyline. It doesn’t rise up from a regular revenge drama with its own share of sacrifices, motivational speeches and abiding hunger of total power.

On the performances, there is nothing much to do for Rodrigo Santoro but whenever he appears on screen, you feel all charged up with what comes next. Eva Green as the evil-head Artemisia is first rate. Sullivan Stapleton carries off well in the lead role but somewhere down the line, you end up looking for a Gerard Butler in him. And that gets unsatisfactory for fans! Even though the second part falls shorter of whistle-blowing moments than in first part, this chiseled body- all shaved up men’s encounter never runs out of thrilling moments. Watch out to get mesmerized by glorified action sequences and superbly executed visual graphics. Do not look for more than what it promises and you’ll not be dissatisfied. Extremely Watchable! [3/5]

WORLD WAR Z : a horror film? yes, but not a regular one! [3/5]

The very existence of human race is in danger…again. This time, it is not about aliens or some creepy creatures but man-eater zombies who are spreading all over like some terminal biological syndrome, ready to bring down the world in the most gruesome manner, identical to the plague of locust’s attack!

Based on a novel by Max Brooks, Mark Forster’s WORLD WAR Z scares the hell out of you, especially with its horrific visuals. You may not get frightened and panicky as regular horror flicks do in a prescriptive routine sequencing of the events but the spine-chilling imagery it creates of world being wiped out of mankind itself keeps you on the edge of your seat for most of the time. 

In an apocalyptic circumstance, ex-UN investigator [played by the producer Brad Pitt] is back on mission to find the root-cause of worldwide zombie-attacks and the search for clues and crumbs to reach on substantial buoyancy in fighting it back. The race to save is against the time. And the film does really good in keeping you on your toes through constant interesting twists in the plot and a taut screenplay. First 20 minutes in the film and you know where this ‘thrill that chills’ sci-fi horror film is headed to.

The best part about it is that it doesn't restrict itself to be a typical horror film but tries its level best to overwhelm you with the intelligence of a thriller. The effort shows but sadly doesn't always pay off and it becomes only an acknowledgement for first rate cinematography specifically while using aerial shots and a good direction in bringing out some of the nastiest zombie attacks on screen ever. A good one-time watch for people who can admire even a ‘world coming to an end’ movie without much of loud action & heavy VFX construction! [3/5]