Everything you expected

'BAAHUBALI 2'

Director: SS Rajamouli; Starring: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tammannah Bhatia, Sathyaraj, Ramya Krishnan Rating:

By the time the enrapturing narrative actually arrived at the key plot point – why did Kattapa kill Baahubali – I had forgotten that this question had haunted the nation for two years. There is much more to the second and tragically, conclusive and concluding segment of the Baahubali saga than the Kattapa query. So much glory, grandeur, and above all such spectral wisdom. By the time we finish watching “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” we are far better informed about human nature and its tendency to betray those whom we love the most. Yes, “Baahubali 2” is much bigger than the first film in every sense. It is far deeper and dreamy, drawing us into its magic and magnificence with a seamless swoosh that sucks us in. We fall into the ravine of ravishing courtly machinations with no desire to pull ourselves out of the hypnotic spell that Rajamouli casts on us. Before we know it we have entered Rajamouli’s enchanting kingdom of Maheshmati where intrigue, treachery , passion and redemption straddle in a tight embrace riding together in a chariot of ire that hurls across cinematic vistas never explored before. The episodes come together in unexpected ways, generating through the drama a repertoire never-experienced splendour and spectacle. The swirl of colours on the sets and in the costumes is like Moulin Rouge on a Devdas trip. But the treatment vision and the characters’ karmic quirks are all peculiar to Rajamouli. He courts the epic without drawing attention to the enormity of the scale that his vision dares to climb. That Rajamouli is an extraordinarily skilful storyteller goes without saying. He wastes no time in introducing the characters. Even if there are some viewers out there who haven’t seen the first Baahubali film, the plot uncovers in sweeps and streams of majestic arrogance that accommodates our ignorance of the characters’ background and our unconditional awe for the film’s visual spectacle in the same range of vision. The second instalment of the great Baahubali franchise is so lush, luscious and luminous, it’s like being transported repeatedly to a paradisaical peak, not once not twice but over and over again. Rajamouli spins an enchanting web of images that seem straight out of the Indian mythological tales mainly the Mahabharat. But he gives it his own splendid spin. His characters think Ramayan but act Mahabharat. True, that this is a lengthy epic. But an epic in the truest sense where the dramatic conflicts and battlefield confrontations merge into a fulfilling magical journey into Neverland where anything and everything can happen. Is the Baahubali saga really over? Truly the end of an era!! Forget Kattapa. Rajamouli kills it.