Bahubali: Flirting 101

On a unsuspecting Friday afternoon my well meaning senior at work forced us all to watch the upcoming southern spectacle- Bahubali. The most awaited Telugu flick of the year, on the release of which trumpets would be played and drums be beaten. Security around theaters in Hyderabad was tight and tickets were being sold for as high as a Rs 2000! So yeah you can imagine the magnitude of buzz this movie had created.

Now, I consider myself to be a very good judge of movies, at least the ones that appeal to me. By looking at the trailer I can arrive at how entertaining this movie will be to me. Bahubali sadly didn't make the cut. 

And yet after a lot of reluctant looks and laughing the invitation off, I finally gave in. I mean I could go through an action packed cheesy movie where the camera pans on the actress's tummy, for some fun time with the team right? 

But oh, Bhubali was so much more! It starts dramatically with the visual of a kid resting on the palm of a lady who is drowning in the sea ( imagine desi Statue of Liberty with a kid instead of the lamp) and ends with enlightening the audience about some novel forms of sexual harassment. Turns out in whatever century this movie is set in, drawing funky tattoos on a girl is the in way to hit on her! That's just how the cool kids rolled in those days. Fascinating really. And 100% more romantic than creepy Facebook messages. 

There really isn't a dull moment in the movie. Specially not the engaging  scene where the Make up artist cum sex offender protagonist of the movie gives the I'm-so-fierce-I'll-kill-you-with-my-expression actress a makeover. This has by far and I mean BY FAR been the best song and dance sequence I've ever seen. It left me in awe of the multitasking hero and the director for coming up with a sequence so ahead of its times. 

Once the hero and heroine are done with their fair share of ishq ladana, the movie goes in flash back mode. The second half is all about the war which I assumed I would be bored to death with. But boy was I wrong! This movie is nothing if not riveting. The war is waged against a tribe who speak in a dialect that is enunciated with a very rad '!' sound ( remember Russell Peter's Xobile! .. Yup the click sound) . Good guy Bahubali wins both the war and the people's heart leaving the more handsome than the hero villain-Bhallavdev in a pool of envy. This is more or less how the movie ends before leaving us with the good news that there's going to be a sequel!

 All in all I'm glad I went. The CGI and special effects were a treat to watch. That's something really worth applauding. Also, turns out I was the only know who understood the convoluted storyline perfectly. And sure enough the next day I had to draw a tree diagram to explain who was who. So much for taking one for the team ha ;) 

Until next time! 

F