The rise of the Telugu Titans
The news channels thought we were waiting for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi results.
The entertainment gurus thought that we were all hooked on to the IPL.
The financial journals thought that the only number we were keen on was the sensex.
April 28th proved all these pundits completely wrong. No, the country was not obsessed with the rise of the sensex, the collapse of Kejriwal or failure of the IPL stars.
The question that was haunting them was, Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali?
And, the answer was given in the most magnificent manner by India's master story teller.
On a canvas that in the future can give rise to the phrase "Bahubalian scale", the director showed what raconteuring is all about.
About how you can make a passion for story telling come alive through a visual extravaganza.
To see a director invest five years in one project is unimaginable. But to have an actor and the starcast live the dream with the director is almost beyond comprehension!
The fact that Prabhas, the lead actor forsake other roles, opted out of every other opportunity to live this role is but one example of the missionary zeal which went into the making of this mega movie...
The task at hand for Bahubali 2 was far greater than for the first one. Bahubali 1 was a freak hit.
It was like the many upsets we see in the world of sports - A Djokovic getting knocked down by an unfancied player.. but we have never never seen the same unfancied player beat the same champion again. Bahubali 2 had to surmount that challenge, lest it would be one of those one off sensations.
Credit to the director and the PR team, they kept the fire of suspense alive, for almost two years!
Harry Potter and iPhone apart, can't think of any other event that generated so much pre launch hysteria. Bookmyshow almost collapsed under this load and the share prices of PVR went up just because it was screening this mega movie.
Compelled by some brilliant marketing and build up, I watched the movie on day 2.
Fingers crossed.
Did it live up to its hype?
The numbers speak for themselves... it has demolished all notions of what a great sequel should be.
In every scene of the movie, one could only marvel at the imagination of the director. The scale, the grandeur, the vividness of details, there is so much to see in the movie.
Of standout value is the strength of the women characters. In an iron pumping macho cinema, the women have been portrayed in an equally strong way. They are not damsels in distress waiting for saviours. They, with their visceral strength propel the story forward.
Hats off Rajamouli and team Bahubali, this is as big a success as Greece's Euro 2004 win, Gujarat's Ranji trophy win of last year or India's 1983 World Cup win.
This is the challenge and overthrow of the old order.
A simple fact that the number of twitter followers of Prabhas, Rana Daggubati and Rajamouli together is lower than that of the any of the Khans tells you the scale of the win.
Rajamouli's sheer audacity has the potential to change the way Indian movies will be made in years to come.
Give space Bollywood, the Telugu Film industry has arrived on the Indian film landscape.
Stand up and applaud.
