Baahubali The Beginning happened and happened in a grand way. After being swept away by the tide of news over the movie’s opening day box office, crowd rush, ticket rates, rows and reading the audience/expert reviews, going in for the last show on the first day was a demanding task due to the sheer weight of expectations. A second show with a toddler and a kid can make the aforesaid task as daunting as the against-the-flow mountain climbing of Sivudu (Prabhas) in Baahubali.
We reached our seats with enough stock of food and beverages that could attract the raiding platoon of Kalakeyas from the movie. Once settled, only two things brought me back to the present from the era created by master craftsman S. S. Rajamouli—to tear open the chips packets for the children and to burst those thought bubbles reading “those minor CGI patches, Prabhas and Tamannaah (as Avantika) going flat once in a while and the costume and make up faux pas, was the movie worth the effort?” And the easy answer to this found its way, “Yes! It is.”
Rajamouli, with a swordsmanship as good as that of Kattappa (Sathyaraj), takes the edges off these attacks soon with his pacey and gripping narration—accolades to those who worked in the other departments for keeping up with the captain, the 159 minutes pass in a flash. Chest widened and posture erect with muscles high on adrenaline, I stepped back into the theatre after thwarting an attack by Kalakeyas just outside the Mahishmathi boundary walls, to see the kids cuddled up to their mother. Without any visible signs of jetlag from the time travel, she said, “Sad that they are releasing the sequel only in 2016. We could have finished that as well.”
Looking at her tucking the younger one under the shawl, it struck me like the blow the warlord took from Bhallaladeva’s (Rana Daggubati) gada (blunt mace) — ‘Baahubali The Beginning’ is all about celebrating womanhood and not a blind showcasing of masculinity.
While waiting for the audience to rush out, I re-visited the plot to see if there was a crux to the matter. Motherhood was at its best in the movie — Sivagami (the stepmother of Sivudu), played by Ramya Krishna, drowned herself while keeping the baby Sivudu safe above the water levels. Embodying the essence of magnanimity, and with it the love towards her sons and justice to the people, Sivagami is the figure of the woman.
The decision of a tribal woman to mother an orphan defying her husband and other men-folk in the tribe displayed the power of maternal love. With an indomitable spirit, when Devasena (Anushka Shetty) rejected the ever-reliable Kattappa’s offer to free her from the captivity of Bhalladeva and chose to wait for her long-lost child to return and end her suffering, it showed the strength of a mother’s belief. At one point, even the mighty Bhalladeva’s pride had conceded defeat in front of Devasena’s belief.
Audience were left with goosebumps, when a son (Sivudu) rocked the foundation of religious beliefs by lifting a Shivling to reduce the hardship endured by his foster mother while attending to her devotional duties. A war to save the pride of a mother and the motherland would just leave you in tears.
Maternal compassion was not the only shade of love showcased in the movie—the quintessential love between a man and woman was also portrayed beautifully. If it was fear that helped Bruce Wayne to complete the leap of faith, then it was the love for Avantika that guided Sivudu to come through the impossible climb to reach Mahishmathi. Avantika, a rebel warrior fighting to save Devasena, was introduced to her inner beauty by Sivudu — the sensual beauty of a relationship was presented in a fresh way which would move any heart.
Avantika, leading a pack of Bhalladeva’s soldiers into a trap, the sequence where she is seen along with her fellow woman rebel guarding the outpost, and how she bags the prized assignment of freeing Devasena over a group of highly motivated men, showcase the independence and free spirit of womanhood.
While carrying the elder one into the car, I wished Rajamouli had ‘directed’ Baahubali against showering gold coins on three young dancers for creating a diversion to smoke out a traitor who took refuge in a foreign land.
Minus that, Baahubali The Beginning indeed was a celebration of womanhood as well, among other things.