Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead!
After two years and a week, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion was released. I finally got to watch the film this weekend. The time had come for me to discover the biggest secret of humankind. Okay fiiine, I’m exaggerating. Not as big as “is there is life after death,” perhaps, but equally mysterious is why Kattappa killed Baahubali.
I was ready for it.
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I decided to shell out a few extra rupees on the already overpriced tickets and bought myself the recliner seats. Not because of my love for Baahubali franchise (hey, I didn’t watch Baahubali –The Beginning, in theatres), but for my arse. A two-hour, fifty-minute long movie in the Snapchat era, need I say more?
Anyhoo… I was ready for Mahishmati magic to swirl around me. Come on Kattappa, bring it on! My gush of euphoria was quickly washed away by Sivagami’s opening dialogue in Baahubali 2, which goes something like, “Don’t punish Mahendra Baahubali for the sins I’ve committed. Let him live.”
No. No. Nooo. She did not say that! Geez! Thenks SS Rajamouli, for successfully keeping a secret for two years and then giving it away in the first five minutes of the film. After that dialogue, even a donkey could figure out why Kattappa really killed Baahubali. So why would you sit and watch the rest of the 2 hours and 45 minutes? Simple: Just to do the ‘I told you so’ dance to yourself. That’s exactly one of the reasons why I sat and watched the prequel.
There are two things I’m NOT going to talk about in this post. Firstly, the depiction of women in the films and secondly, the Logical Quotient (LQ), which by the way is zero. And it’s absolutely fine because when we watch some of the Hollywood films like Fast and Furious series, the LQ takes a back seat. So why judge Baahubali on LQ criteria? After all ,it’s a Salman-esque philum.
I gotta be honest, the multi-coloured magnum-opus turned into a soapy TV saga. SS Rajamouli did you time-travel while writing the script from the Ramayan and Mahabharat era to Ekta Kapoor’s ‘K’ serials period? That’s the only way you could explain the script of Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion.
The saas-baahu saga between Sivagami and Devasena is no less than Tulsi Virani and Savita Virani from Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Rightly said, Amarendra Baahubali is Mihir Virani, sandwiched between his mother and wife, and is eventually killed and reincarnated as his son Mahendra (sans the plastic surgery).
SS Rajamouli, you made me respect papa Baahubali despite his sexist comments. Like the time he thought the best solution to pacify an angry maa is to give her a grandson. #BaahuSilly.
Nevertheless, he was the man who had the courage to stand up for his wife and sacrificed the throne, but unfortunately, SS Rajamouli, you completely changed that in the climax. The dying Amarendra ordered Kattappa to take care of just his mother (aakhir maa, maa hi hoti hai!) not his wife (or even both), who by the way, at that very moment was giving birth to Mahendra Baahubali in a village with no family support (her kingdom of Kuntal buried in ashes, thanks to egoistic Bhallaladeva).
That’s the moment when you, SS Rajamouli, killed Baahubali for me.
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