The film was conceived by Rajamouli's father K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, who randomly told him a story about Sivagami, a woman who carries a baby in her hand while crossing a river, and a few years later about Kattapa, which intrigued Rajamouli. His fascination with mythology and the tales of Amar Chitra Katha comics further fueled his interest in the story. However, it took the writers three months to finalise the final draft. The soundtrack and background score were composed by M. M. Keeravani while the cinematography, production design, and VFX were handled by K. K. Senthil Kumar, Sabu Cyril and V. Srinivas Mohan respectively.
The film was made on a budget of ₹180 crore (~ $27.9 million), making it the most expensive Indian film at its time of release. The film opened worldwide on 10 July 2015, garnering critical acclaim and record breaking box office success. With the worldwide box office gross of ₹6.5 billion (~ $100.9 million), it became the highest-grossing film in India and the third-highest grossing Indian film worldwide, and the highest-grossing South Indian film at the time of its release. Its Hindi dubbed version also broke several records by becoming the highest grossing dubbed film in India. Both budget and box office records since has been surpassed by its sequel, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. The Beginning is the highest grossing Indian film of 2015 and the fourth highest grossing Indian film of all time.
It received several accolades. It won the National Film Award for Best Special Effects and Best Feature Film, becoming the first Telugu film to win the award. At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, the Telugu version won five awards from ten nominations, including Best Film, Best Director for Rajamouli and Best Supporting Actress for Krishnan. The Beginning became the first Indian film to be nominated for Saturn Awards, receiving five nominations at the 42nd ceremony, including Best Fantasy Film and Best Supporting Actress for Tamannaah. The film's second and final cinematic part was released on 28 April 2017.
Contents
- 1 Plot
- 2 Cast
- 3 Production
- 3.1 Visual effects
- 3.2 Kilikili language
- 4 Music
- 5 Release
- 5.1 Re-release
- 5.2 Marketing
- 5.3 Distribution
- 6 Critical reception
- 7 Box office
- 7.1 India
- 7.2 Overseas
- 8 Accolades
- 9 Sequel
- 10 See also
- 11 External links
Plot
Local villagers notice the baby and rescue it. Sanga (Rohini) and her husband name the infant Sivudu and raise him as their own son. The villagers seal the staircase leading up the waterfall, fearing that someone may come to take away the child.
Sivudu (Prabhas) grows up to be a strong, adventurous young man who tries to climb the waterfall, with minimal success. After carrying a stone Shiva lingam to the waterfalls, he finds a wooden mask on the ground. Driven to find the owner of the mask, he attempts to climb the waterfall again and succeeds. After his ascent, Sivudu discovers that the mask belongs to Avantika (Tamannaah), a rebellious warrior of a group engaged in guerrilla warfare against Emperor Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati) of Mahismati. The group, led by Devasena's brother (Balireddy Pruthviraj), intends to rescue their former queen Devasena (Anushka Shetty) who has been imprisoned in the kingdom for the past twenty-five years. Avantika is given the opportunity to rescue the queen.
Avantika falls in love with Sivudu after finding out that he climbed the waterfall for her. Sivudu pledges to help her in her mission and sneaks into Mahishmati to rescue Devasena. Sivudu rescues Devasena and flees with her, but is chased down by Bhallaladeva's son, Bhadra (Adivi Sesh) and the king's royal slave warrior Kattappa (Sathyaraj). After Sivudu beheads Bhadra, Kattappa drops his weapon, realizing that Sivudu is Mahendra Baahubali, the son of late king Amarendra Baahubali. Kattappa narrates the story of Amarendra's past.
Amarendra's mother had died giving birth to him, while his father had died long before that. His uncle Bijjaladeva (Nassar) was deemed unfit to rule due to his crooked nature, however he believes he was denied the throne due to the fact that one of his arms is disabled. Bijjaladeva's wife Sivagami assumed control of the kingdom with Kattappa's assistance until a new king could be selected. Amarendra Baahubali was brought up together with Bijjaladeva and Sivagami's son, his cousin Bhallaladeva. Both young men were trained in arts, science, disguise, politics, and warfare, but they had different approaches towards kingship. Amarendra Baahubali was gracious to everyone, and was loved by the people. Bhallaladeva was violent and achieved his goals by any means possible.
It was then discovered that Mahismathi was about to be attacked by an army of savages called Kalakeyas. Bijjaladeva proposed that the prince who killed Inkoshi, the king of Kalakeyas, would be the future king of Mahismati and the chief minister agrees. Sivagami, nevertheless, said that it was prince's duty to protect and defend their country and orders that Mahismati's war resources be distributed fairly among the two men. Bijjaladeva used his guile to make sure Bhallaladeva got the maximum war resources.
The Kalakeyas were given an opportunity to change their minds. The Kalakeya king Inkoshi rejected Queen Sivagami's offer and insulted her by saying he will have children with her. An enraged Sivagami said she wants Inkoshi brought to her alive, but with his limbs chopped off, so that she could feed him to the vultures. During the battle, the Kalakeyas used a dirty tactic of using the prisoners of Mahismati as shields. Bhallaladeva plowed through the line of innocent prisoners with his chariot which had blades turning and killed them. Amarendra, on the other hand, caused them to fall down and attacked the Kalakeyas behind them, thus saving the prisoners. When it seems that Mahishmati would end up being defeated, Amarendra inspired his soldiers to fight back and they ended up crushing the enemy. While Amarendra defeated Inkoshi and was about to obey the words of Sivagami by chopping off his limbs, Bhallaladeva swung his weapon from a distance and killed him. Despite Bhallaladeva being the one to kill Inkoshi, Sivagami announced Amarendra Baahubali as the new emperor because of his courage and leadership and also because of the fact that he shielded and protected his own countrymen throughout the war.
After the flashback, when asked about Amarendra's current whereabouts, a tearful Kattappa reveals that Amarendra is dead, and that he is the one who killed him.
Cast
- Prabhas as Amarendra Baahubali and Mahendra Baahubali alias Sivudu (Telugu) / Shivu (Tamil)
- Rana Daggubati as Bhallaladeva (Telugu)/Pallvalathevan in (Tamil)
- Anushka Shetty as Devasena (Telugu) / Thevasenai (Tamil)
- Ramya Krishnan as Rajamatha (Queen Mother) Sivagami (Telugu) / Shivakami (Tamil)
- Tamannaah as a rebel warrior Avantika (Telugu and Tamil)
- Sathyaraj as Kattappa (Telugu and Tamil), as a royal slave and warrior
- Nassar as Bijjaladeva (Telugu) / Pingalathevan (Tamil)
- Rohini as Sanga (Telugu and Tamil)
- Meka Ramakrishna as Jayasena, leader of the rebel group and the King of Kunthala Kingdom
- Tanikella Bharani as Swamiji
- Adivi Sesh as Bhadra (Telugu and Tamil), son of Bhallaladeva
- Prabhakar as king of the Kalakeyas Inkoshi (Telugu) / Inkhozhi (Tamil)
- Sudeep as Aslam Khan
- S. S. Rajamouli as spirit seller
- Nora Fatehi as dancer in green blouse
- Scarlett Mellish Wilson as dancer in orange blouse
- Sneha Upadhyay (cameo) as dancer in blue blouse
- Rakesh Varre as Bhallaladeva's friend
- Teja Kakumanu as Sakethudu
- Bharani as Marthanda
- Subbaraya Sharma
- Adatya as Raj Guru
- John Kokken as Kalki Brothers
- Gabriela Bertante
Production
For the first time in Indian movies, 4K movie print was rendered with an aspect ratio of 1:1.88 as compared to Cinemascope at 1:2.35 to get the best cinematic experience in screens that support the 4K projection claimed the Producer. Sabu Cyril, production designer for the film created 10,000 different kinds of weaponry ranging from swords, helmets and armors required for the soldiers. To make the swords light weight Carbon-fibre was used instead of steel, the same material used in manufacture of Helicopter blades claimed the art director. 3D printing technology was used to create the head of 100 foot Bhallaladeva's character in the movie and flexi foam was used to create amours to make them light weight and to have the look of leather. V. Srinivas Mohan was chosen as visual effects supervisor and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao was the Editor. PM Satheesh was the sound designer and Peter Hein was responsible for the action sequences. The costume designers were Rama Rajamouli and Prasanthi Tipirneni. The line producer was M. M. Srivalli.
Visual effects
Firefly Creative Studio which is also based out of Hyderabad worked primarily on the avalanche and the war sequences which accounts for nearly 25 minutes of the film. Firefly Creative was also involved in creating underwater VFX shots and in establishing backstories for Kalakeya characters. Tau Films from Malaysia was responsible for creating the CGI bison, while Prasad EFX from Hyderabad was responsible for some shots in pre and post battle episodes involving digital multiplication. Prasad was also responsible for creating a 3D image of Kattappa and mapping his head on to a duplicate actor in one of the scenes.
Srushti VFX from Hyderabad was involved in digitally creating some of the shots in the war sequence along with Firefly studios. Annapurna Studios from Hyderabad was chosen as digital intermediate partner for the film which is responsible for generating the digital feed with the best color and audio for editing. For the first time in Indian movies, Academy Color Encoding System workflows were implemented along with Infinitely Scalable Information Storage keeping in mind the mammoth scale of digitally enhanced shots in the film. Arka Media Works, production company of Baahubali, teamed up with AMD to utilise the state of the art FirePro GPUs W9100 and W8100 during the post production of the film which are capable of rendering 4K content in real time and are considered the best in Industry to date.
Reacting to media reports on the same VFX team for Baahubali and Jurassic World, producer Shobu Yarlagadda denied outright any such collaboration, calling such claims an internet rumor. In an interview with Quartz, the co-founder of Makuta VFX stated, "Most of Baahubali was developed in Hyderabad, home to Tollywood, and used local talent. It was principally a homegrown feature produced by homegrown talent."
Kilikili language
While Karky was pursuing PhD in Australia, he took up a part-time job of teaching and baby-sitting children. During one such interaction, he thought it would be fun to create a new language that could be easily grasped. Basic words were first made up and opposites were represented by word reversals - me was min and you was nim. The language which introduced 100 new words was called "Click" to highlight its simplicity. This formed the foundation for Kiliki.
- Kilikili consists of at least 750 words and more than 40 concrete grammar rules
- It was designed to be an intuitive language - Karky said he used hard consonants and soft consonants depending on the nature of the word's meaning.
- The language was created keeping in mind that the Kalakeya warriors had to be portrayed as terrifying brutes.
- The language sounds the same in all the versions - Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam - of Baahubali.
Music
Release
The film released on 10 July 2015 in 4,000 screens worldwide in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam languages. A record number of 1600 screens in Telugu, 1500 screens in Hindi, 350 in Tamil and 225 screens in Malayalam were booked for the release. The film was released in USA a day earlier by BlueSky Cinemas in 135 screens. A premier show was also held on 9 July at Prasads IMAX Hyderabad. The film's release in Kerala was hindered amidst a close down by a section of theatres over the piracy issue of Malayalm film Premam and released only in few theatres. The Telugu version of the film was presented by K. Raghavendra Rao, Tamil version by K.E. Gnanavel Raja, Sri Thenandal Films and UV Creations, Karan Johar presented the Hindi version and Global United Media presented the Malayalam theatrical version. International version of the film which is 20 mins shorter than the original one, done by Vincent Tabaillon was screened at Busan International Film Festival . Producers of the film have planned to release the film in China in over 5000 screens in November 2015 by E Stars Films. Baahubali will be the biggest release in China for an Indian film, beating PK which was released on 22 May 2015. The film is also set to release in Japan. Twin Co which is a leading distributor for international films in Japan has acquired the rights for screening of the film. The producer Shobu Yarlagadda who struck the deal at Busan Asian Film Market also revealed his plans to release the movie in Latin America, Germany and European countries. MVP Entertainment is set to release the movie in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Timor-Leste countries. Sun Distribution acquired the distribution rights of the movie in Latin American countries while Creative Century Entertainment got the rights for Taiwan. In Korea, the movie is scheduled to be released via Entermode Corp. Arka International, which is the sales arm for International release has made arrangements to release the movie in Germany and 70 other territories.The Tamil version of the film faced a controversy relating to a word used in the film. On 22 July 2015, activists of Dalit group Puratchi Pulikal Iyakkam hurled petrol bombs outside the 'Tamil, Jaya' multiplex in Madurai screening the Tamil version of the film. Dalit group Puratchi Pulikal Iyakkam protested against the movie featuring a line Pagadaikku Pirandhavan, words considered derogatory against dalits as they are contemptuous terms used by caste Hindus to address members of the Arunthathiyar Dalit sub-caste. Dialogue Writer of Tamil version, Madhan Karky issued an apology for offending Dalits.
Re-release
The film was screened at various film festivals like Open Cinema Strand of Busan International Film Festival, Indian Film Festival The Hague, Sitges Film Festival in Spain, Utopiales Film Festival in France, Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei, Taiwan, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, L'Etrange International Film Festival in Paris, Five Flavours Film Festival in Poland, Hawaii International Film Festival in Honolulu, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium, Cannes Film Festival in France, Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania, Le Grand Rex in Paris, Kurja Polt Horror Film Festival, Festival de Lacamo, 8th BRICS summit, and the 2016 Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India, Goa. The international version of the film was released in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Timor-Leste along with some European and Latin American countries.
Marketing
It is also one of the films featured in BBC's documentary on 100 Years of Indian cinema directed by Sanjeev Bhaskar.
Distribution
Critical reception
Deepanjana Pal of Firstpost wrote, "This battle is Rajamouli's tour de force. It's elaborate, well-choreographed and has some breathtaking moments. Prabhas and Dagubatti are both in their elements as the warriors who approach warfare in two distinctive styles. The outcome of the battle is no surprise, but there are enough clever tactics and twists to keep the audience hooked. The biggest surprise, however, lies in the film's final shot, which gives you a glimpse into the sequel that will come out next year. And it's good enough to make you wish 2016 was here already." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV India rated the film with three stars out of five and stated, "The spectacular universe that the film conjures up is filled with magic, but the larger-than-life characters that populate its extraordinary expanse do not belong to any known mythic landscape. To that extent, Baahubali, driven by the titular superhero who pulls off mind-boggling feats both in love and in war, throws up many a surprise that isn't altogether meaningless." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express praised the film: "Right from its opening frames, 'Baahubali' holds out many promises: of adventure and romance, love and betrayal, valour and weakness. And it delivers magnificently on each of them. This is full-tilt, fully-assured filmmaking of a very high order. 'Baahubali' is simply spectacular." IN her review for The Hindu, Sangeetha Devi Dundoo wrote, "The war formations that form a chunk of the latter portions of the film are the best we've seen in Indian cinema so far. These portions are spectacular and show the technical finesse of the cinematographer (K.K. Senthil Kumar) and the visual effects teams. The waterfall, the mystical forests and water bodies above the cliffs and the lead pair escaping an avalanche all add to the spectacle. Give into its magic, without drawing comparisons to Hollywood flicks."
Sukanya Varma of Rediff gave the film four out of five stars, calling it 'mega, ingenious and envelope pushing!'. Critic Archita Kashyap based at Koimoi also gave the same ratings, "Be it the war sequences, or sword fighting; or a visual spectacle, or pure entertainment it is worth a watch. Kudos to the dedication of S S Rajamouli and his leading men, Prabhas and Rana, for spending years putting this film together. Actually, in its imagination and Indianness, Baahubali might just be a whole new start." Rachit Gupta of Filmfare gave the film four stars (out of 5) and summarised, "Baahubali 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." Suparna Sharma of Deccan Chronicle praised the second half of the film, writing, "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." Suhani Singh of India Today pointed out that the film is best enjoyed keeping logic at bay. She added, "SS Rajamouli and his team put up a fascinating wild, wild east adventure. It takes pluck to conceive a world like the one seen in Baahubali and to pull it off on a level which is on par with the international standards. The almost 45-minute-long battle sequence at the end is not just one of the biggest climaxes, but also the action spectacle rarely seen in Indian cinema. And if Rajamouli can present another one like that in part 2, then he is on course to register his name in cinema's history books. We can't wait to revisit Mahishmati kingdom." Critical reception penned by Shubha Shetty Saha for Mid Day rates the film with four stars out of film, exclaiming, "While watching Baahubali, you might have to periodically pick up your jaw off the floor. Because this is not merely a movie, it is an unbelievably thrilling fantasy ride." The review extends praising the aspects, "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."
Box office
India
The Telugu version alone earned around ₹65 crore (US$10 million) nett in first weekend in India. The film, from all its versions, earned almost ₹100 crore (US$16 million) nett in its first weekend. It had the fourth biggest opening weekend ever in India. The Hindi version collected around ₹40 crore (US$6.2 million) nett in its first week. Baahubali: The Beginning grossed more than ₹178 crore (US$28 million) nett from all its versions in India in the first week. It added a further ₹45 crore (US$7.0 million) nett in its second weekend to take its total to around ₹224 crore (US$35 million) nett in ten days. The Hindi version grossed over ₹40 crore (US$6.2 million) nett in the Mumbai circuit.
Overseas
Accolades
Sequel
See also
- List of most expensive Indian films
- List of highest-grossing Indian films
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