BY- AISWARIYA
MAKING OF BAHUBALI
The “Rise of sivagami” is the first book
in the literary series Baahubali.
We all know that the superhit movie
of 2015 is Bahubali:The beginning .The conclusion released after 2 years in 2017 . This was Directed and screenplay by S.S.Rajamouli and is produced
by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni. This movie was
written by K.V.Vijayendra Prasad .
Lets go
to the topic. How can they give such a massive movie. Lets see the making of
Bahubali. The movie is released as two parts.”Baahubali :the Beggining also now as BB1”,”Bahubali:the conclusion also
known as BB2”.
The estimated budget of Bahubali is
2.5 billion indian currency .Fortunately this flim earn 10 billion. Thus this
flim can compensate the money they invest.
A significant portion of Bahubali
2, especially the court drama in the second half, was shot way back in 2014
during the making of” Baahubali:
The Beginning”. Post the release of first part in 2015, the team
went back to complete shooting the entire Kunthala kingdom portion, apart from
the climax. Kunthala kingdom, which
was the citadel of Devasena, lies in a hilly region and so, Senthil opted for a
cooler tone to bring in a contrast compared to the warmer tone he used to shoot Mahishmathi kingdom. The two kingdoms
are poles apart and it’s evident in their architecture and the lifestyle of the
rulers and their people. “Mahishmathi is all about grandeur, huge pillars and
gigantic statues, but Kunthala is a small, peaceful country. They love art
which is why every pillar is carved so intricately. So when Devasena enters
Mahishmathi, she’s intimidated by the scale of it. That shot showcasing an elephant statue at the entrance of
Mahishmathi makes Devsaena’s ship look so tiny. Every shot was well thought of,
which is why people remember aren’t able to forget anything.”
Everything in Bahubali 2/Baahubali 2: The
Conclusion was meant to look epic, says cinematographer KK Senthil Kumar
The entire first half of the film is
filled with some iconic shots — be it Amarendra Baahubali teaching Devasena how
to shoot three arrows or showing hundreds of bulls whose horns are on fire. “I
should give Rajamouli credit for coming up with all those ideas. When he asks
me something, I try my best to deliver them. I can't pick what my favourite
scene from the film is. One of the challenges was to capture both emotion as
well as grandeur. Sometimes, I would think how a certain shot would fit into
the narrative, but when I saw it during edit, it would blow my mind. This film
also broke a lot of norms about how the screenplay for an Indian film can be.
It just keeps getting intense as it progresses and it was an eye-opener for me
about how a screenplay can be presented,” Senthil says.
The sight of bulls with flaming horns
was one of the defining moments of the film and, by his own admission, a lot of
thought went into making it look real. In an earlier sequence, Amarendra
Baahubali sees a bunch of farmers racing the bulls in the fields, which comes
across as a hat-tip to Jallikattu or
Kambala (Buffalo race) that’s prevalent in Coorg region. Incidentally, the bulls depicted in this scene were
imported from Gujarat and people who ran behind them were called from
Karnataka, because running behind a bull requires a lot of skill. A lot of
training went into preparing for that scene. While this was the case about
setting up the bulls with flaming horns scene, shooting it was a different
challenge in itself.
Since the entire sequence is supposed
to unfold at night, it’s really difficult to light up the whole area, and
Rajamouli gave me complete freedom to decide when to shoot because we had a lot
of limitations. Some of the shots were shot during the day, some inside the
studio, and few at night. Later, while colour grading the whole sequence, I had
to take care of a lot of parameters to get the night effect right and yet have
enough light so that you can see the expressions of the artistes,” Senthil
says, adding, “The closest reference we had was Mad Max: Fury Road,
which had few such day-for-night shots. We studied a lot about how John Seale,
cinematographer of that film, achieved that effect and tried to use such
techniques in our film. I guess it worked, but it’s a laborious process.”
Such day-for-night shots were also
extensively used in the iconic sequence where Kattappa kills Baahubali. “There
are a lot of limitations while shooting day-for-night shots. We aren’t supposed
to shoot the sky or shoot only in a particular time of the day; however, it’s
not possible to follow all such rules. We broke quite a few of them, and we
managed to make it look right in post-production. The whole sequence where
Kattappa kills Baahubali is one such example,” Senthil says.
The breathless action in the film,
coupled with impeccable storytelling, had a profound impact on the viewers. Not
surprisingly, the interval sequence, which depicts Bhallaladeva’s coronation
has been singled out as one of the best ‘interval bangs’ in Indian cinema.
Apparently, even during the shoot, the whole unit was convinced that it would
stun the audience.
KK Senthil
Kumar. Image via Twitter
“We knew that we got the scale right,
but what makes that particular sequence so great is how the actors performed.
Right from Ramya Krishnan to Rana’s reaction to the reaction which Baahubali’s
speech gets, everything was spot on. We did a lot of research about how
different armies in the world perform their parade and the Chinese army, in
particular, was a big reference point for us. Choreographer Shankar played a
key role in designing the entire sequence,” Senthil recalls.
Every aspect of Bahubali 2 was
meant to be immerse and epic, and it couldn’t be more true in the case of the
film’s climax. All the action was pre-visualised at CNCPT, a Los-Angeles based
studio, and Hyderabad-based Makuta VFX, the principal studio of the film,
worked on the sequence for several months altogether. Soon after the film
released, there were few voices that the action looked a tad unrealistic. Ask
Senthil what his views are, he quips saying, “Nothing in Bahubali 2 is
meant to be real. We wanted to excite and thrill the audience. There’s a lot of
drama happening even in the midst of an intense action sequence. That’s what
made it so interesting and challenging for me.”
One of the challenges while filming the
climax was to find a way to ensure that Rajamouli’s vision to showcase
Amarendra Baahubali’s face in the clouds is clearly seen, amidst thunder and
lightning. However, in the initial portions of the battle, the skies are clear
and it’s quite sunny. “We worked on that sequence a lot during post-production.
The transition is so smooth that you don’t even realise how it happened, but if
you carefully observe, clouds appear gradually. All this was done during colour
grading. For some key scenes, we had a huge 60X60 feet skimmer to get a
soft-light feel to give an impression that it was getting quite cloudy. And in
the end, there’s lightning and thunder,” Senthil says.
The shoot wasn’t without its share of
tense moments. Senthil recalls how scores of actors and technicians escaped
from a scary accident during the shoot; however, in the hindsight, he says it
looked quite comical. “The skimmer was attached to a huge iron frame, which was
suspended in mid-air using 3-4 cranes, and all of a sudden, a wire snapped and
the whole frame fell on the ground. Everyone ran for their life. Thankfully, no
one was injured. It was really scary then, but now that I think about it, it
feels comical,” Senthil laughs.
Bahubali 2 is a visual treat and the way the song Hamsa
Nava, featuring Prabhas and Anushka, is shot puts things in perspective what
sort of thought process went into the making of the film. “Ideas are in
Rajamouli’s genes,” Senthil says, adding, “The best part about working with him
is that he listens to you and has the patience to consider every idea to make a
better film.” Ask him if he’s game for Bahubali 3 and pat
comes the reply, “Only if Rajamouli wants to direct it.”
I conclude by saying thanks to Rajamouli
sir for such a massive movie.
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