Movie Review “Bahubali 2 – The Conclusion”

Post a 2 year hiatus Rajamouli is back with the sequel of Bahubali 1 – the 3rd largest grosser in Indian movie history; Bahubali 2 - looking at the teeming crowds at theatres & the crashed servers of online ticket booking sites – could very well turn out to be the largest grosser; while a Rs. 800 crore is a given, Rs 1000 crore has been fixed as the target; the satellite, music & overseas rights have already been sold for about 350 crores. Release in 9000 screens – 6500 in India, 2500 abroad - is also a milestone.

The magnum opus has no dull moments; & off course the intriguing question “Why did Katappa kill Bahubali” which inspired many memes & parodies & now also trending as #WKKB is finally revealed.

The film starts as a flashback with Amarendra Bahubali (Prabhas) – the Prince, ordained for coronation, taming an elephant that has gone wild during a ritual – followed by his simpleton acts - while travelling incognito across kingdoms to understand ground realities.  He falls for the charms & heroism of Princess Devasena (Anushka Shetty) of Kuntala. The Pindari attacks on the small kingdom force him to reveal his true self, just as Arjun revealed himself while staying incognito in King Virat’s kingdom when attacked by the Kaurava forces. The battle scenes by Peter Hein are outstanding; bulls with their horns on fire - as an impromptu innovation to fight a much larger force - or crashing a dam to flood out the intruders form breath-taking visuals. Bahubali making Prince Kumara Verma (Subbaraju) of Kuntala understand his true potential seems an inspiration from the Mahabharata where Arjuna does the transformation act in Prince Uttar Kumar.

In the meanwhile Prince Bhallaladeva (Rana)  & his father Bijjaladeva (Nasser) plan to poison the ears of Queen Sivagami (Ramya Krishnan) to ensure that the former becomes king; Bijjaladeva - a cripple - is a replica of Dhritarashtra - who was denied the throne because he was blind - & fancies the throne for his son; he doesn’t mind killing his wife too in the bargain.  When spies reveal the soft corner of Bahubali towards Devasena, Bhallaladeva, hatches a conspiracy & seeks the latter as his bride which his mother acquiesces, ignorant of Bahubali’s feelings.  A marriage proposal sent to Kuntala is rejected by Devasena which forces an angry Sivagami to order Devasena to be bought captive to Mahismati; palace intrigues force Bahubali to accomplish the task which he does after promising Devasena to protect her honour.  Bahubali bringing Devasena to Mahismati in a ship has the replication of the famous Titanic scene on the deck.

Misunderstandings persist; given an option to choose between the bride & the crown, Bahubali chooses Devasena & becomes the Senapati or military head- a deputy to the king Bhallaladeva; however popular support still vests with Bahubali much to his cousin's chagrin.  As part of the continuous palace intrigues, during Devasena’s baby shower ceremony, Bhallaladeva relieves Bahubali of his duties under the ostensible reason of allowing him to stay closer to his wife; Devasena protests with Sivagami the unjust act accentuating the confrontations in the family further, Later, when Devasena is brought to the court in chains for cutting off the fingers of an official for groping, Bahubali steps in & beheads the tyrant; accused of insubordination to the crown, the couple are initially banished from the Palace & later under the mistaken impression that Bahubali had planned the assassination of Bhallaladeva vide Kumara verma, Katapppa is ordered a hitman job by Sivagami.  Forced under oath of loyalty to the throne given by his forefathers, Katappa is compelled to oblige. Katappa’s character is akin to Bhishma in the Mahabharata where his loyalty to the throne & throne alone forces him to fight for Duryodhana even though he intrinsically knew that Dharma was on Pandavas’s side. Later, Sivagami realizes her mistake & announces Mahendra Bahubali as the new king & in a bid to save the infant’s life sacrifices her own; Devasena is imprisoned & put in chains. Katappa’s loyalty, shifts to Mahendra as he was ordained the new king.

Mahendra Bahubali’s revenge saga forms the remaining part of the film. That pride hath a great fall is poetically revealed when Bhallaladeva’s statues tumbles, breaks & his severed head lands at the bottom of the waterfall at the feet of the giant Shiva Linga; his body is burned to cinders too.

The climax seems rushed for much of the 2hours 47 min of the movie was spent on a flashback.  A more detailed battle sequence, at the end, rather than showcasing only the two main protagonists – Bahubali & Bhallaladeva – alone would have been more prudent. Tamannah has only fleeting presence in the movie. Perhaps, criticism from women activists regarding the virtual disrobing of Tamannah by Prabhas during a dance sequence - viewed akin to eve teasing -  in the prequel, forced the director from refraining to go down such a path in the sequel which is welcome; however women too being shown fighting the epic final battle would have been a true tribute to the women lib movement.

The prequel had more iconic sequences – Sivagami carrying the prince in one hand wading through a tiding river, Bahubali lifting the huge Shiva Linga, Katappa’s sword fight, Sivagami vanquishing her opponents in the court revolt, Katappa’s placing the feet of Mahendra Bahubali on his head in a rain drenched night etc.  While Katappa & Sivagami shone in part 1, part 2 belongs more to Bhallaladeva; his menacing looks & his buffed up body makes one love the villain too.  VFX is decent. The musical score by MM Kreem is good but gets overshadowed by the extravagant visuals. The sets by Sabu Cyril are the real heroes of the movie & Senthil’s cinematography makes the opulent sets come alive.

In short see the movie for its extravagance, reminisce Amar Chitra Katha & see the epic of sibling rivalry unfold.

Indian Foreign Policy: At the Cross Roads

China has responded to the Indian dare of allowing the Dalai Lama to Tawang by rechristening 6 towns – on April 14^th - in Arunachal Pradesh, perhaps, to de-legitimise the Indian claims on the same region – a policy they have followed earlier in the East & South China Sea.  Meanwhile in the summit meeting between President Trump & Xi, the latter surprisingly acquiesced with the US concerns on the whopping trade deficit of $350 billion by alluded to work on the same as part of a strategy to reduce inflation in their own country– a first during their bilateral talks till date; clearly, Trump appears to have stirred the Taiwan pot & challenged the “one China” policy for a brief interlude, only as a negotiating-bait & appears to be succeeding. The contrasting treatments meted out to India & China is an eye opener; while China has cleverly avoided being branded as a “currency manipulator” – a Trump election promise - India is at the receiving end of H1B visa curbs, likely pressures on IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) especially on pharma as well as Custom duties – 100% duty on Harley Davidson bikes being specially mentioned.  

The installation of the THAAD missile system in South Korea & deployment of a nuclear submarine to protect its ally against the North indicates that the US is unlikely to dump its allies & carve out geographies with China under a G2 format; however, demands for greater contributions – from NATO as well as countries like Japan, Korea etc. - for providing a security architecture would definitely follow; the “pivot to Asia” strategy might not have been dumped but relations with India would become more transactional or quid pro quo; India, therefore, needs to hedge its bets & perhaps the next stop of Arun Jaitley to Moscow (Apr 25-27^th) from Washington (Apr 21-23^rd) along with the PMs visit to Israel, in July, is part of the overall strategy of protecting her interests without leaning too much on any one international power. However the Russia- China - Pak axis might put pay to such plans. US-Russia working together would have provided us much more strategic space; the impending relationship appears to be at the crossroads, though, post the US Tomahawk missile attack on a Syrian airbase followed by additional sanctions as a reaction to a purported chemical attack on civilians.

While some elements of our nationalistic belligerent media would like us to believe that we are squelching Pak in the International forums & thumping her into a pariah status, the truth is that Pak has moved closer into a Chinese embrace & is gaining from the $46 billion CPEC(China Pak Economic corridor) lifeline; Russia too - a cold war enemy - has opened up to Pak as a counter to an Indian tilt towards the US & has conducted joint military exercises & is planning arms sales; clearly a Russia-Pak-China axis is emerging, burnished by an increased desire to squeeze India out of Afghanistan.  If the CPEC joins the OBOR, Pak would be the strategic partner for all land locked central Asian republics – burnished further by the Muslim brotherhood logic- & serve as a gateway to the Arabian Sea enhancing their geo-political status further. The solution is to rake up the demand on POK & Gilgit – Baltistan through which the CPEC passes; the consequence of such action is no talks with Pak & therefore a volatile valley; additionally, India needs to instigate the Balooch rebels & prevent the completion of the Gwadar port. Perhaps, India is working on both these strategies; the PM, unprecedentedly, has spoken from the ramparts of the Red fort on the Baloch issue while Kulbhushan Yadav too was purportedly arrested from Baloochistan.

Pak’s economy is 1/8^th the Indian one while India is 1/5^th the Chinese behemoth & it is reasonable to assume that the military spends are a function of economic strengths; spends however are no reflection of the numerical strengths; Indian military (13 lakhs) is about 50% China’s (23lakhs)just as  the Pak army (6.2Lakhs)is only 50% India’s; all the 3 players are nuclear powers & can wreck the other if faced with imminent annihilation; thus it is unlikely that China would replay 1962 despite India pulling out the  “Tibet card” to express irritation to the Chinese opposition to Indian membership of the NSG or preventing  Masood Azhar from being branded by the UN as international terrorist. However, since pestilence on two fronts – Western & northern – if not a war is a highly likely outcome a rapid roll out of Bharat Mala – the infra to match the Chinese on their side of the border should be accelerated.  Land & rail connectivity vide Bangladesh & activating more of the dormant air strips in the North east is an urgent need. A more broader engagement with the North eastern insurgents to maintain peace is critical.

For details see.http://meetrk.blogspot.in/2015/05/geopolitics-of-infrastructure-indias.html

India’s “neighbourhood first” policy seems to be in doldrums since relations with Nepal & Sri Lanka are deteriorating while those with Maldives shows no improvement. In the 1990’s India made a bid to cosy up with Iran & hence the Shia block with some success & Iran reciprocated by supporting the Indian stand in the OIC on Kashmir; attempts now to reach out to Saudi Arabia & UAE – the Sunni block – has led to the Shia side being miffed; no support on the Kulbhushan Yadav issue buttresses the assessment.  Since about 7 million Indians work in the Gulf – largely in Saudi (2.8Million) & UAE (2 million), Kuwait (0.75Million), Oman (0.7Million), Qatar (0.6 Million)  - & contributed about 60% of the 62 billion overall remittances last year, a GCC tilt is understandable; however this would mean that Iran too - which has a strategic depth in Afghanistan - would work towards evicting us from the region. Pursuing the Chabahar port development & spends on creating infra to link Afghanistan & Central Asia vide this port is therefore strategically illogical & hence should be dumped.

Ideally, a democratic India should have been logically a partner to western democracies post-independence; however, since Pak was the UK creation & because of the then Indian leadership’s own enchantment with socialism we moved closer to the USSR – a relationship that served us very well though. Brexit would ensure that even countries like UK support India more lured by a trade deal; however, the rise of right wing leaders in Europe, in the impending elections, is likely to unravel the EU & Indian diplomacy should rise up to the challenge.

With Europe on the boil, Africa & Latin America should be the continents that Indian diplomacy needs to concentrate hard on. The Chinese have made deep inroads here already & our resources do not permit a headlong attack; use of soft power – like the US - would be a better alternative. The US attracted the best students from across the world to its Universities & the goodwill thus generated helped when they returned to their home countries & rose to important positions in the local govt. India needs to pursue a similar path but if criminal attacks on African students continue & we refuse to acknowledge them as “racial attacks’ the African project would unravel leading to an insurmountable damage; the PM should persuasively speak about this issue at length in his “Man ki Baath” & follow it up with ground level strategy.  Tapping the NRI base in those countries should be the other strategy.

The international situation is fluid & calls for a long term strategic direction & tactical intervention which calls for a larger diplomatic corps which is work in progress; with Trump cocking a snook at the UN, we are likely to see the revival of bilateralism & a weakening of international institutions; in such a scenario a foreign secy. on a one year extension & a Foreign Minister who is not in the pink of health post the kidney transplant would not help.

In the light of an unpredictable US, a South Korea-Japan-Vietnam-Australia-India axis during the next 20 years would serve India well; beyond such a period we need to plan to stand on our own feet rather than lean on others. Rather others should be encouraged to lean on us.