India’s biggest film franchise ‘Baahubali’ hot on heels of Hollywood blockbusters
HYDERABAD, India: Dozens of animators work into the night in India’s southern city of Hyderabad, fuelled by caffeine and huddled over computer screens in a darkened studio to put the fi nishing touches on India’s biggest and most ambitious fi lm.
The makers of Baahubali 2 hope its top-notch visual effects will wean Indian audiences from Hollywood blockbusters, enticing them with the magical kingdoms, rampaging armies and towering palaces of a homegrown fantasy epic.
“If art was easy, everybody would do it,” said Pete Draper, cofounder of Makuta VFX, which is stitching the fi lm’s live- action scenes together with computergenerated imagery.
“Every single shot has its own challenges. Working hours right now are crazy. We are fi nishing daily at 4am.”
Agencies that closely track the box office say Baahubali 2 is the most highly awaited Indian fi lm of the decade. But the competition for Spider-Man and other movie franchises from overseas isn’t coming from Bollywood.
When it opened in cinemas in 2015, dubbed versions of Baahubali: The Beginning, made in the Telugu language widely spoken in India’s southern states resonated with audiences nationwide.
It used computer- generated imagery to depict ancient kingdoms and bloody wars in a quintessentially Indian battle of good versus evil. Film-maker S.S. Rajamouli aims to do even better when the next instalment is released on Apr 28.
Inspired by Hollywood epics such as Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments, Rajamouli wanted to create a franchise that delivered a memorable experience.
But younger audiences were looking to Hollywood franchises such as The Fast and the Furious, and the superheroes of the Marvel and DC Comics for the big- screen thrills Indian cinema was unable to provide. — Reuters