The most prominent project to emerge from Tollywood recently is without a question Bahubali. This brilliant Rajamoali-directed movie stars Prabhas, Tamannah, Rana and Anushka in the lead parts. Today marks the release of Baahubali which is being hailed as India's biggest movie. Let's see if the hoopla is justified or not.

Story:

Shivudu (Prabhas) is raised by a few local villagers. He develops unique abilities that everyone finds to be a mystery as he grows older. He meets Avantika (Tamannah) one lovely day and instantly falls in love with her.

As time goes on, he learns that she and her crew are working extremely hard to save the royal Princes Devasena (Anushka) and Bhalaladeva (Rana) from the devil's grasp. Shivudu joints the Mahishmati kingdom after deciding to aid Avantika.

He discovers immediately after being there that he has a history with both Mahishmati and Bhalaladeva. What's the past there? What connection exists between Mahishmati and Shivudu? Who Shivudu actually is you must see the movie to get the answers to these questions.

Movie review:

To make a long story short, this “Magnum opus” is a CGI-heavy attempt to incorporate the traditional folk tale framework into a cheesy Tollywood potboiler that worships it's heroes. Clearly demonstrating this is a romantic scene in which Shivudu pursues Avantika (Tamannah). Anushka, the wife of Amarendra Bahubali and mother of Shivudu, is being held captive by the ruthless Bhallaladeva, Bahubali's scheming first cousin who usurps the throne. Avantika, a feared warrior from the fiefdom of kuntala, has dedicated her life to saving Anushka from the clutches of Bhallaladeva.

Shivudu, it turns out, is the son of the very Devasena that Avantika has promised to die attempting to save. Forget about the flip-flop in her character sketch. Prabhas then assumes control as he embarks on fulfilling his destiny of exacting revenge for his father's murder.

Baahubali illustrates the appealing, straight forward simplicity of some videogames in this way each time our hero completes a task, a new problem appears. When the adult Baahubali (the amiable, moustachioed Prabhas) climbs that waterfall, he discovers that he has wandered into a civil war; it is only when he catches a sight of the warrior princess Avantika (Tamannah Bhatia) that he knows which side to choose.

Baahubali: The Conclusion is, in general, a story of good vs evil. We knew what was coming because Devasena was seen in part one gathering twigs fora funeral pyre.

The climax of this brilliantly staged extravaganza is the downer; suffice it to say that marvel superheroes would be embarrassed.