Baahubali: The Beginning is a 2015 Indian bilingual epic historical fiction film directed by S. S. Rajamouli. Produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni, it is the first of two cinematic parts.
The story has been told many times before — a child is born destined for greatness and as a man vanquishes the forces of evil — but in the confident hands of accomplished South Indian director S.S. Rajamouli, the tale gets potent new life in Bahubali: The Beginning.
Much of the credit for the film’s success goes to Telugu superstar Prabhas, who elicited cheers and whistles when he emerged bare-chested from a waterfall in his first scene at a sold-out XD screening near Silicon Valley on the film’s opening Friday.
Although he isn’t as well known to Hindi film fans as that other famously shirtless starSalman Khan, Prabhas has a presence grand enough to transcend language. His Bahubali is more than a superhuman leader of men able to heft a two-ton stone Shiva lingam; the muscle-bound, bearded actor manages to imbue him with vulnerability and pureness of spirit.
It’s possible to enjoy the film as pure entertainment even without being privy to the superlatives surrounding it: Bahubali boasts the largest film poster in the world (a 50,000-square-foot billboard in Kochi), the highest budget of any Indian film to date (a reported $40 million), and is now expected to break box office records in India and around the world.
