Aha… made you click didn’t I?!
Thought it was going to be a Baahubali bashing kind of blog where I point out how copied it was from other works, whether Indian or Hollywood?
But okay, so I am going to do a little of that, no bashing or anything, however, I am going to point out a few scenes which I felt were very similar to certain movies I’ve watched.
So I finally got to watch Baahubali- The Conclusion.
(It says so much about how awesome my workplace is when I say that I had to watch this movie for work. I get to watch to a movie for my work. How awesome is that.)
But getting on with it, Baahubali 2… the movie that I had been waiting for almost 2 years now and was crazy about is finally out.
Read More: Baahubali 2 Trailer Has Come At The Perfect Time
Almost every part of it was just great, be it the visuals, the effects, the CGI, the acting, the directing, everything.
And I know that you all have already read almost every review that there is, dissecting each scene, dialogue, look, costume everything down to the last eyelash of Baahubali.
So I won’t bore you all with another one of those and instead would like to highlight something that I observed while I was watching the film.
However, during the screening, I couldn’t help but notice that a few scenes looked very, I wouldn’t exactly say copied, but more like inspired from several different films.
Let us see what they were, shall we:
1. When Baahubali and Devasena Come Back To Mahishmati:
This I observed even in the trailer and it was only later it struck me why this particular scene seemed so familiar to me.
The scene is greatly resembling a scene from the 1998 released animated movie Prince of Egypt when Moses and his wife Tzipporah come to Rameses’s court to talk about freeing the Hebrew slaves.
In Baahubali- The Conclusion, the scene is of when Baahubali and Devasena along with Katappa and party, come back to Mahishmati to join in matrimony.
2. When Baahubali And Devasena Cross The Borders To Mahishmati:
Okay so this was before the above scene and while the visuals of it are absolutely amazing and has to be experienced at least once in the theatre, I felt was a bit inspired from this shot of the Iron Bank’s Titan Of Braavos statue that stands at the entrance to the city of Braavos.
Although it has been Indianised and still even in that it must have taken quite a bit of work, it looks a bit similar to me.
3. When Shivudu (Mahendra Baahubali) Stood In Front Of The Castle Gates When Devasena Was Again Captured:
Okay while the others have been modified and changed a bit, this one I felt was more similar to the scene than others.
The scene I am talking about is the last scene of 300, when King Leonidas was killed by the shower of arrows.
The scene in Baahubali 2 was when Shivudu was trying to get Devasena back after Bhalaldeva had once again gotten hold of her and dragged her back to the palace. In his rage and sadness of losing his mother again, Shivudu had stood defiantly in front of the palace gate trying to get in.
4. When Baahubali Is Trying To Fight The Pindari:
This one is more of just a coincidence I believe or it could be a nod to good stunts, but this scene was really similar to the entry scene of Ajay Devgn in Phool aur Kante, wherein he rode on to the college campus standing on 2 bikes.
Obviously, I do not have sample of that, since that scene has not been revealed anywhere and can only be seen when watching the movie, but the scene in question is when Devasena’s kingdom Kunthala is attacked by the vicious Pindari tribe.
5. Bhalaldeva’s Death:
Now this last one could just be similar without any reason whatsoever, but I did feel that Baahubali had some nods to one of the greatest animated movie, The Lion King.
Whether it be Baahubali’s visage being in the background when Shivudu is killing Bhalaldeva or the actual death of Bhalaldeva into the fire.
The death had a bit of resemblance to the death of Scar by the hyenas into the fire.
Of course, I would still like to applaud Rajamouli for keeping the entire movie original for the majority of it. And even these scenes, I will reiterate are not exactly copied, instead are inspired from other great works in order to make a grand and even better visual experience.
And to all the Indian directors that do want to copy, then I would just that, that this is how it is done. Take reference from other movies and then change and adapt it to work according to your movie. But please for the love of god, just stop copying. Learn something from Rajamouli.
Image Credits: Google Images
Other Recommendations:
http://edtimes.in/2017/04/rise-sivagami-look-world-baahubali-ed-poster-series/
http://edtimes.in/2017/03/punjabi-cinema-never-golden-phase-despite-eighty-years-old/
