Indian cinema has produced something spectacular. And it's not from Bollywood.
Hundreds
of miles from Mumbai, the hub of the nation's Hindi-language movie
industry, a South Indian director has attempted a battle epic that
critics say has successfully blended local folklore with Hollywood's
technological grandeur."Baahubali: The
Beginning," directed by Telugu-language filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, is
also billed as India's most expensive film ever.Latest estimates show
the budget of the two-part movie neared $40 million, according to movie
website IMDb.
That
figure may seem small in comparison to many Hollywood productions, but
it's unparalleled in India, where costs for its highest-budget movies
rarely touch $25 million.A
day after its nationwide release in Telugu and several other Indian
languages, "Baahubali" -- meaning "Strong Man" in Hindi -- has attracted
rave reviews.
"You
can see S.S. Rajamouli's varied influences in places: James
Cameron-like dreamy vistas of hill, waterfall and greenery, Ang Lee's
flying-through-the-air-acrobatics, Peter Jackson's
stretching-out-for-miles crowded battlefields, J.R.R. Tolkien's
plug-ugly trolls who talk in guttural tongues," she wrote.
Special
effects-laden "Baahubali" is built on a traditional Indian "good vs.
evil" plot -- a lost prince rediscovers his blue-blooded roots and sets
himself out to reclaim his kingdom from the usurper.
"Spanning
generations, going back and forth between the present and the past,
alternating between vastly contrasting landscapes, it's an ambitious
work from a visionary filmmaker who skilfully blends a tale of old
school palace politics with modern VFX (visual effects) to deliver a
consistently watchable blockbuster," wrote Rajeev Masand, the
entertainment editor of CNN-IBN, CNN's India affiliate.
"Baahubali"
was almost three years in making, according to IMDb; it took 200 days
to construct all its sets on a 200-acre lot, the film site says.
The
film was shot in locations including the mountains of Bulgaria, the
forests of Mahabaleshwar in western India and a sprawling film city in
the southern part of the country, according to IMDb.
"Rajamouli has delivered a gigantic masterpiece in technical terms," said another film critic, Bobby Singh.
One of the most successful filmmakers of Telugu cinema, 41-year-old Rajamouli has won national acclaim for many of his movies.
His
most recent hit was "Eega" ("Fly"), originally released in Telugu, the
native language of the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana. It told the fictional story of a man reborn as a fly to take
revenge on his killers.
"Rajamouli is indeed a visual storyteller," said Masand in his review of the director's latest film.
The 160-minute Baahubali ends in a cliffhanger, with a sequel expected next year.
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