About nine years have passed since the great film franchise of Rajamouli Baahubali, set in a fictional mahishmati kingdom, hit Indian screens and, yet, the fandom feels fresh; The magnificent sets, the powerful story, the impressive VFX, the nuanced performances and the addictive songs made Rajamouli’s lean magnum was unforgettable.
So, when Hotestar announced an animated spin-off, franchise fans like me were inevitably excited, especially when history promised a surprising deviation from what we expect from family characters: Katappa, the faithful guard of the Mahishmati kingdom that had sworn Serve the real family all his life, chooses to fight the kingdom and face the two princes on the battlefield, whom he himself had trained.
The original actors of the films have repeated their roles, lending their recognizable voices to a similar impact. For the Hindi version, manufacturers have chosen Sharad Kelkar for Baahubali, Samay Thakkar for Kattappa, Mousam for Sivagami and Manoj Pandey for Bhallaladeva. For the Telugu, Prabhas and Rana Daggubati version they have lent their voices.
Although the manufacturers had the leverage of the bank in an already established box office success, the animated series is a toned and diluted version of the franchise, apparently adapted for young audiences.
The series is established long before the throne heir is chosen, when Prince Bhalldeva had envy of love that Prince Baahubali received from the citizens of Mahishmati and insecure of losing the throne towards him. However, when a new threat to the kingdom emerges in the form of a masked villain and, of course, Kattappa, the two stepbrother are forced to join for the good of Mahishmati.
While Baahubali’s original films also explored similar narrative arches, such as Kalakeya’s attack, were great and kept the alert audience. However, the series feels more like a version of Amar Chitra Katha of those stories, with the morally gray treatment of the characters and the emotional complexities of the film. It seems that the manufacturers doubted in addition to history to prevent the series from being too complicated for their planned audience. In the same way, despite the fact that the entire premise of the series is based on the suspense, the emotion and emotion of what could come next sporadically. Even with its dear family characters and stories, the program lacks coherence and somehow fails to keep it stuck.
The series is a prequel to Baahubali’s films.
What marked me most was the commitment to the seriousness of the character of Baahubali, which forms the spine of the franchise. In certain scenes, he presents himself as a helpless character of Panchatantra, running after the people who try to teach them what is right and what is wrong, who can be admonished by anyone. Even his mother Sivagami, in the case, seems separated from the iconic representation of Ramya Krishnan, and leans more towards the villain side. In a scene, he is seen convincing his son to ignore his promise to slaves and concentrate more on his real duties; Umm, what? Or maybe Rajamouli has tried a clue that Sivagami always had a hidden villain, and the way he treated Baahubali Devasena in the movies was not just an isolated incident!
However, the show has brilliantly captured the cunning of the character of Bijjaladeva. He is still the unpleasant sincere who was in the movies. He still pools his son’s thoughts and is cruel, heartless and selfish in his nucleus. In fact, one of the main premises of the series revolves around the corrupt nature of Bijjaladeva, which invites the entire clan to bad luck.
In the Technical Front, the animations are quite good, and all the characters have a surprising resemblance to the original stellar cast. The animators have also experienced with each character that has a different edge, or sunlight, or even the brightness of the moonlight, in some scenes.
If you could only say the same about cartoon funds. Except for some impressive sequences of the Royal Palace, the screen is full of boring funds. In some of the scenes established within the real courtyard, the void emits the multiple multiple instead of a real aesthetic. The program could have easily won some more Brownie points with more detailed animation work beyond the characters.
Since the group of good Indian animated shows is already quite superficial, it was counting a lot about Rajamouli’s last effort. Although he has collaborated with the manufacturers of Legend of Hanuman in Hotstar, a popular series based on the Hindu god, Baahubali Palecece compared to the previous work of manufacturers in several areas. If the intention of manufacturers was to present children to Indian superheroes, Rajamouli should have invested more in investigating how to overcome their western competitors. But that could be a bar too high to clear. Baahubali: Crown of Blood might not resist the standards of Rajamouli’s best work, but can bring a variety portion to the children’s observation list.