The side effect of Bahubali 2: The Conclusion

‘Bahubali 2: The Conclusion’ is a once-in-a-lifetime film. A box office phenomenon like the S.S. Rajamouli film happens only once in a decade or two. The last time a film pushed the level of film business to an altogether different level was Sooraj Barjatya’s ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’ and before that we’d probably have to go back as far as Ramesh Sippy’s ‘Sholay’.

But a box office storm like ‘Bahubali 2’, a film that has shattered records across the country, has both advantages and disadvantages.

The first negative side effect of ‘Bahubali 2’ is going to be immediate rush to make the next ‘Bahubali’.

Less than 2 weeks after the release of ‘Bahubali 2’, we’ve had 3 major announcements:

  • A UAE businessman wants to invest Rs 1,000 crore to make the epic Mahabharata (narrated from Bhima’s perspective). He has reportedly signed Malayalam superstar Mohanlal to play Bhima and is keen on casting Hrithik Roshan as Krishna.
  • Telugu producer Allu Aravind is joining hands with ‘Ghajini’ producer Madhu Mantena and Namit Malhotra (Prime Focus Limited) to make the epic ‘Ramayana’ in 3 different languages. The planned investment on the 3-part series is said to be Rs 500 crore.
  • Ritesh Deshmukh is reportedly also planning a 225-crore film on telling the fascinating story of warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

It’s good for film business in India as a whole that we attempting to make big films that bring together the audience from various film industries. After all, the combined footfalls of the two ‘Bahubali’ films just in the two home states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will exceed the 7-crore mark – which goes to show the immense potential for film business in India.

But the industry needs to very careful here.

The ‘Bahubali’ series is a unique case of brilliant marketing (almost entirely organic) backed with outstanding content and a convincing storyline. It was helmed by one of the best filmmakers the country has ever produced. S.S. Rajamouli is a visionary who gained tremendous confidence after making classics like ‘Magadheera’ and ‘Eega’. His track-record is only matched by directors like Rajkumar Hirani and Shankar. He is the very best, amongst the best.

In Hindi, the only director who is capable enough of making films on such a large canvas is Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He is one director who has sense for scale.

With lesser directors and writers, we could be risking a film similar to ‘Mohenjo Daro’. The director was no less than Ashutosh Gowariker, acclaimed for films like ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Swades’. He compromised on visual effects, slipped in the writing department and a large share of its budget went into the pockets of the lead superstar. The results were disastrous, the film faced outright rejection because the promos and characters weren’t appealing at all. Even a superstar couldn’t save it.

The rush to make the next ‘Bahubali’ could result in the industry losing a lot of money and unless a film gets almost everything right and more – we are unlikely to have another film like ‘Bahubali’ for a long time to come.

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60 Comments

  • It is indeed a very good article because it is true thqt if Randamoozam fails to impress the audience.. it will lose a huge amount of at least 500 crore.. bigger budget does not necessarily mean that it will bring more money… in hindi industry rajkumar hirani is the best but he cannot make films on large scale like shankar or rajmouli..

    before Bahubali, shankar was the only director who could manage big budget films… so to make a film truely global you need a director like ss rajmouli. . And also need an exceptional actor like aamir khan who is unarguably the first global indian star… so it needs to get all the big stars to reunite to make randamoozam a successful film… and also a great director like rajmouli. ..

  • very true…

    Bollywood has to be more cautious…

    Everybody cant be a rajamouli..or a hirani.. or an Aamir khan…

  • @indicine is it true padmavati maker are increasing their budget from 160 crore to 200 and TOH shooting postponed after bahubali 2 massive hit, as adi,aamir and victor are discussing to up the ante of movie..

  • absolutely correct. v r a formula loving indusrty. whenever a genre strikes gold v start copying it & end up making some rubbish that actually kills the genre..look at desi mindless masala cinema that begun with wanted dabangg but soon b grade films like action Jackson jai ho rajkumar were made & now v hardly make such mindless masala as they mostly underperform

  • 1000 cr on Mahabharata is a Bad idea, Baahubali become successful that doesn’t mean every big budget movie will be successful, the reason behind successful run of Baahubali in India is not only the VFX (even that was not up to the mark in BB2) or Gramdness but the curiosity 1st part Created… This Gramdness and scale was also in The first Part of Baahubali…

    Hrithik should reject this Krishna role as This movie is from Bheem POV and director is also unknown and there is no vision about the movie, they r just making it bcoz Baahubali is huge success..

    Mahabharata needs atleast 10 years to be made. Only Rajmouli should attempt this with the Combination of North + South superstars like Hrithik, Allu Arjun Mahesh Babu etc..

  • one must realise baahubali became baahubali bcz of script, acting & vfx being used wisely. if it’s script didn’t make impact then the scale, the action, the vfx would hv made negligible impact

  • Till their name is ‘Bollywood’ they’ll never have the brains to tr something original… Gone were the days when there were writers like Salim-Javed and filmmakers like Yash Chopra and it was called ‘Hindi film Industry’…
    Let the fools try to imitate Hollywood or South and go bankrupt…

  • No one can make other Bahubali and it will take a Decade or Two until something like that…..All your points are spot on; Direction, Content & Scale. The one who can excel in these Departments only will make a EPIC MOVIE

  • its a good opportunity to make some big budget perodic movies as bajirao,bahubali worked very well means these type of movies will catch public’s attention and even an ok movie will work wid good scale atleast for next 2-3 years .

    Dabang came and thn many masala movie worked vry well like son of sardar,rowdy rathore,chennai express,r rajkumar….despite hving weak scripts .

  • dont want to see any mahabharta ramayana without ss rajamauli sir, only he can justice to these type of films, without a doubt no.1 director of the country whose films dont need any major superstar to break boxoffice records, havnt seen his original rowdy rathore but really loved akshay’s rowdy rathore which is remake of this legendory directors film and currenlty tops his highest grosser list , infant his non period dramas are more entertaining than some of our most loved films for me

  • To make randamoozam a successful film it needs global superstar like aamir khan and also an accomplished director like rajmouli or else it will be a disappointment

  • 125CR-150 budget is enough to make a war peroidic movie …. spending 500cr will be a bad decision!

  • if a 1000cr budget movie dont feat. our bollybood stars directed by someone else, fir main to nahi dekhne wala, eiether put a bollybood superstar in that film ya fir khud rajamauli sir direct kare tabhi maja aayega

  • Amitabh bachachan is responsible for introducing meaningless and violent cinema in our industry and this trend is being followed by bhaijaan of today . See how desperate and eager is amitabh tat he don’t want to retire even now .and he is going garbage 2 rs ads like oil ad or toilet ad or mobiles ad etc etc .just to show tat he is still alive. . Truly big b us the real reason why our cinema quality is zero now.big b is a very cruel and shameful person from inside …big b was involved in many scams including bofors scam .also he has himself purchase tickets for his movies just to make them hit …he back stabbed many people like kadar khan , pran; mehmood, vinod khanna, shatru sir , shashi kapoor and many more.he is a very wicked and cruel person .

  • The Mahabharata (from the point of view of Bheema) has been doing rounds since almost a decade now, with Mohan Lal in the main lead.

    In fact S.S. Rajamouli was the first one to moot this idea……..So, if they are planning it now, it should be done with a big collaboration from South & North production company, so that the movie is well marketed all across.

    Other two looks more like a sudden interest due to success of Bahubali 2.

    Though, the writer of Bahubali 2 do have some plans of Shivaji epic.

    I have read the Bheema story, and only a Director with a great vision can achieve that……I wish both Bheema and Shivaji movies are made by good directors.

  • Ritesh Deshmukh planning on making a 225 crore film. Ha ha ha. Where will he get that kind of money from? From BANK CHOR? ?

  • The biggest reason of success of Bahubali is that it’s a different movie for everyone with large scale and outstanding imagination. Those who watched first part on big screen understand how unique and brilliant that film was. Second the makers are intelligent, they cut the movie in two parts. First part create the hysteria that producers already got the money to invest big in second part. You can’t have another Sholay, Hum Aapke hai kaun or next Bahubali. Also these are trend setter movies, you can’t even had next 3Idiots, DDLJ or Gadar.

  • Honestly whenever a film breaks all records it gives confidence to other filmmakers to try something same . In 1960 Mughal -E- Azam was the highest Grosser in Indian Cinema . It took lot of time to be completed and the result was pure magic . 15 years later Sholay broke all the existing records and till date it is the biggest hit in the history of Indian Cinema . In 1994 HAHK became the HGOAT and became the first Indian Film to do 100 CR+ business worldwide . In 2001 Gadar became a massive success . Gadar was a rage in Punjab, UP, MP, Rajasthan and Haryana . In 2017 Bahubali 2 is breaking records into pieces . I would love to see more movies which are made on large scale but with great investment there are huge chances of failure . If anything goes wrong such kind of films bite the dust very easily . It will be difficult for anyone to make something like Bahubali because it is the vision of SS Rajamouli and Vijayendra Prasad who had the conviction, dedication and intelligence to create a fictitious kingdom of Maheshmati with such amazing characters and jaw dropping visuals . Films like Bahubali also need actors like Prabhas, Rana, Sathyaraj and Anushka Shetty who can dedicate 4 to 5 years passionately . If the success of Bahubali encourages writers, directors, actors and producers to up their game than I will be the happiest person in this world . I hope Indian Cinema just becomes bigger and better with each passing film .

  • I wonder whether a movie based on Mythologies would work like Baahubali.Everybody knows the story of Ramayana.There’s no twists or any suspense elements that could create curiosity.Already there are plenty of animated versions running on television.
    A fictional untold or less heard story helmed by a capable director starring a superstar can do wonders at the Box Office.
    BTW ritiesh planning to make a 225+ crore movie..seriously?

  • Before baahubali it was hahk..???
    Where is gadar?? Even Boi has said that last true blue blockbuster for Bwood was gadar..
    Aur in @indicine ko dekho..

    • @Deadpool, please don’t bring opinions of other sites here.. they have theirs, we have ours.

      Check the highest domestic and overseas grosser before HAHK and see the difference. It collected 4 times more than the previous best. Gadar released 7 years after HAHK, the release circumstances were different.. but it did not really push film business to a new level. It only collected about 10% more than HAHK and footfalls were about half. Absolutely no comparison. Even 3 Idiots pushed the limits higher (collection-wise) than Gadar.

  • Similar situation happened after Magadheera in Telugu. Filmmakers were keen on doing more of such warrior type films. Result was major disasters/flops like Badrinath(Allu Arjun and Tamanna- produced by Allu Arvind who also produced Magadheera) and Shakti(Jr. NTR and Ileana D’Cruz). Even the star value couldn’t save those films. Everyone cannot be a Rajamouli. So making a film like Bahubali and Magadheera requires a lot of passion and dedication which very few have or maintain while making a magnum opus. Rajamouli and Shankar are those two rare filmmakers in India.

  • @indicine, could Bahubali have been this big success in North without the backing of Karan Johar, or underperformed like Makkhi?

  • @ indicine, well done! Don’t mind dead pool, the dude is obviously jobless. We are proud of ur team work, and u are the best. ?

  • but indicine hahk was very very slow
    kachhua, have a look at this comparision
    ddlj opening 55-60lac excellent opning
    hahk opening 9lac disasterous opening( but considering a female star madhuri ji the opening looks good)
    ddlj first week 3cr
    hahk first week 60 lacs(equal to ddlj opening)
    ddlj after 10 weeks -40cr
    hahk after 10 weeks 6-7cr
    ab batao konsa bada hit movie tha
    ok lifetym wise hahk 69cr ddlj 61cr, but you cant hide the fact that ddlj was a.rage and this madhuri starrer hahk was none other than a very very slow kachhua, even mohra took far more bigger opening than this kachhua by collecting something 70-80lacs in same year,
    mass hysteria wise gadar was far bigger hit than ddlj,hahk ka.to sawal hi nahi uthta
    stop overprasing our beloved sallu bahu, and post my comments

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