Is Baahubali overhyped?

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Answered By:  Sumit Suryakant Kamat, Mechanical engineering student, football enthusiast, like to drum

Baahubali has been widely appreciated and even compared with the likes of 300 and other prominent sword and sandals movies. But I feel that this comparison is often unnecessary and unfair to both sides as Baahubali is the first film of the genre at such a huge scale in India.

Let us start with the comparison with 300. Zack Snyder is a master at screen adaptations of graphic novels. Do go through the graphic novels, 300 by Frank Miller and  Watchmen by  Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons (Illustrator/Letterer) and John Higgins (Colorist).
 Watch how each frame is brought to the screen. It develops the appropriate atmosphere for a movie goer like me and delight to the comic fan.

Baahubali has great visuals as well. From the waterfall scenes to the Mahishmati Kingdom as well as the duel between Kattapa and Baahubali.

Now let us compare the scenes. In the large scale scenes both the directors depict each still remarkably well. But it is the small scale scenes in which Jack Snyder rises. From the use of filters and the background score, Jack snyder bring intensity and imerssiveness to each scene which is hard to replicate even in Hollywood by other directors. This is where Baahubali fails some time. 

But, we have to consider that Zack Sneider has a well developed storyboard at hand in comparison to SS Rajamouli who has to develop it from scratch. So a point goes to Baahubali.

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Storyline and character development
This is one of few aspects of the movie that disappointed me at a few instances, but let us start with the notable scenes.

The ascent of Shiva to the top of the waterfall is impressive not only in a visual way, but also metaphorically. It symbolises the growth of the character and his success through years of persistence and hard work. He was able to conquer his Everest only when he was ready.

The love of a person towards his mother is one which any person can identify with and through the course of the movie this particular aspect of the character strikes a chord with the audience. Baahubali and Shiva's empathy towards the people or even animals makes them worthy of becoming the hero and champion of the common man.

The character of Sivagami by Ramaya Krishnan was particularly impressive, her expressions were top-notch and made her the strong individual that she was meant to be.

Kattapa symbolising immense loyalty and vigor and Bhallala Deva (the antagonist) are well developed characters in the context of the movie.
Avantika and Devesana have great potential as well, so we have to wait and watch.

The war scenes were impressive as it showed why Baahubali was admired and revered and Bhallala Deva despised later on. At the same time the war strategy depicted was pretty good. In my view this was the strongest part of the movie . 

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There were many things that I liked it but at the same time few aspects of  the story disappointed me as well.

The romance between Avantika and Shiva felt almost forced. It often felt comical and unnecessary at that point of time. Instead of developing the relationship between these two characters in a short span of time, they could take time in developing it through mutual admiration and respect.

Few scenes were not needed at all. The taming of the poorly animated bull by Bhallala Deva was an eye sore to say the least. The director could display this character's strength in a better way. There were various other opportunities to bring the toughness of this character on screen. 

The songs could have been avoided as it seemed to break the flow of the movie. But then I remember how my mother complains when there are no songs in a movie. So, I guess this is what India wants.

Some of the scenes were inefficient and lacked the punch required. The rebels didn't seem strong as a group but this may be attributed to the writer watching a dubbed movie.

CGI and other factors
The CGI was not upto the mark as I had really high expectations, especially the bull as mentioned earlier. 

During the war sequence, the CGI also could have been better. The collision of the weapon (attached to Bhallala Deva's cart) with the opposing army felt too unrealistic. 

Also, the scenes where Baahubali or the characters jumped around could be performed with the help of strings or by a parkour practitioner to bring fluidity to the scene instead of the CGI.

Though being a small issue the age difference was not noticed well between some of the characters indicating an inept makeup department. But at the same time the costume designs were outstanding. Not too shiny or over the top and staying true to the region's culture as was said by the director himself.

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Budget comparison 
As an admirer of low budget movies like Primer, I never liked the idea of comparison of budget and turnouts as a measure of success. Even I consider it to be a sin to compare such movies, but here it goes.

300- 65 million usd 
Lord of the rings trilogy- 358 million usd 
Gladiator- 103 million usd 
Baahubali- 40 million usd ( the beggining and the conclusion), the budget may increase as mentioned by Balaji Ch.

If we consider these figures the money has been effectively used in Baahubali for a movie of this scale, though it can't be compared to the others.

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I enjoyed the movie to some extent, though I feel it could have been better.
Again, I wish to stress that I have watched a dubbed version and would gladly like to watch the movie again with the intended vocals and subtitles.