What made Baahubali a successful 2000 Crore Movie Franchise? – An Analysis | Currently Globally Cinema

First things first, to everyone wondering when did Baahubali 2 grossed 2000 crores, this is an approximate gross figure of the whole franchise – Baahubali 1 & 2 combined. So, clear about the figures? Let\’s move on to the analysis. Mind you. Mild to detailed spoilers ahead if you haven\’t watched the movies.

Revenge is the purest form of emotion. Cinema, be it Indian or International, have always known this and so, this emotion forms the crux of many hit movies. Be it the original Memento or the India\’s Ghajini (Both Tamil & Hindi), revenge movies are a craze and it sparkles the fire among the viewers.

Baahubali on a baseline is just another revenge story and with one line so common that MGR and NTR have done the same multiple times – A son taking his revenge for his dead father and the injustice happened to him. But, if the story is such a common one, how did it become the highest grossing Indian movie ever?

Heard of the saying \”Old Wine in a new bottle?\”. What if the bottle is made of gold? What if the bottle has rich stones adorned in it? What if you have best fruits and rightly cooked tasty meat along with it? That is what Baahubali is.

Devil is in the details:

S.S. Rajamouli, the man behind Baahubali is a visionary in Indian cinema and he went to the extent of making a movie with a house fly (Eega / Naan Ee) as the lead protagonist in India and made it a commercial success too. This man knows well that any revenge movie set in the historical setup is usual and so, he decided the devil is in the details. 

This movie had more than 1 year of preproduction. Every dress & jewels used in the movie, every weapon used in the movie starting from the Trebuchets to knife-spinning & arrow-spewing chariot was designed and conceptualized by the team led by Rajamouli and even the buildings were designed with an aesthetic sense and a creativity that would, later on, be the reasons for people\’s gasping at what they saw on the screen. If you could remember, Magizhmathi/Mahishmathi palace itself has a crown which would burn in nights beautifully. 

Such details were the first step towards the success and that coveted 2000 crores figure because, when as the movie began, the details were so genuine, unique and awe-inspiring, that the viewers forgot the reality and immersed into the fantasy land and its fantasy history.

Sometimes, two is better than one:

If Baahubali was a one part movie, it would still have been commercial and would have claimed critical acclaim but, never at this level. Because Rajamouli and the team of intellectuals know well that, two is better than one.

Why do most successful movies have a normal first half and a pacy second half? Think of Baasha or Sivaji or Don or even Naan Ee / Eega. Because, the first half lays the rule, sets the foundation and readies the stage for greater events to follow. What if you make the first half and second half into multiple movies? 

The foundation is set with the first part \”Baahubali: The Beginning\” and people loved the movie due to the usual love Indians have for medieval era fantasies and they spoke about it in huge numbers and people who missed watching in theatres used the other legal and illegal means to watch what the hype was about and within 3-6 months after the release the first part garnered enough attention from the masses of the second most populated country.

This was expected at a level but, what made this pace-setting foundation into a crowd pulling factor was the ingenious cliff-hanger at the end of it.

\”Why Kattappa killed Baahubali?\”

Humans love a good mystery and Indians take it the next level actually. Right from \”Pulliraaja\” to \”Kettingala Kettingala\” to \”Arjunoda amma\”, I\’ve seen people go mad to find the answer in Tamilnadu, the state I live. But, \”Why Kattappa killed Baahubali?\” took it to a himalayan level and not just in one state, but the whole of India. 

Right from people who haven\’t watched the first movie in the theater, everyone was crazy about the mystery of the lovable and obedient commander killing his own chief, who is almost like a foster-son to him. The actual answer is simple and could have been revealed, but, as with best magicians, the reveal makes the act popular not the reason. SS Rajamouli became a magician with this masterstroke which was a free publicity to the second half.

Cinema is a gamble and in a shorter of a span of time, we have seen huge producers becoming huge debtors and even to the extent of suicide. But, as with every gamble, when you play your cards right, you are bound to win and at least not lose. 

Rajamouli played his cards right with the well-planned pre-production, neatly split screenplay with a Himalayan suspense as a cliff-hanger and this made sure Baahubali 2: The Conclusion to become a huge hit even before it actually hit the screens. 

P.S: This isn\’t a review but, an in-depth analysis of the success factor of Baahubali 2 and personally, we feel Baahubali 2 is an amazingly made movie much better than its first part and deserves grand success on its own. But, the humongous welcome it received even before the release is what we discuss here as the actual success factor despite having a huge star-cast and grand scale making.