The one word that has been on everybody’s lips this year has been ‘Baahubali’, be it down south, up north, in the east or the west, this one phenomenon has taken the nation by storm and how.
The man behind the vision of this feature presentation is the critically acclaimed, award winning director SS Rajamouli, who has in the past given hits like Magadheera and Eega. After having conquered the domestic box-office with unprecedented opening numbers and a sustained collection across regions, the movie is currently making waves across seven seas in various countries and festivals.
The producers of the motion picture literally struck gold when they managed to strike a deal with one of the biggest distributors in China, E Stars, which had in the recent past also taken charge of securing maximum screen presence for the Aamir Khan starrer PK. PK’s $21 million PRC total obliterated the previous record of $3.17 million for an Indian film in China that had been set by Dhoom 3 in 2014, thus the makers feel that E Stars will in all certainty do justice with the release of ‘Baahubali’ in the market as well. Apart from this a separate deal was also struck with Singapore based MVP Entertainment to take the film to countries like: Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and East Timor; and with a distribution deal inked with Japan’s Twin as well SS Rajamouli’s creation is certain to soon become the highest grossing film to come out of India, and bear it in mind that this is only the first part of the two part feature film.
But even as everyone is still pondering on that one eluding question: Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali? A recent tweet from the director has left everyone spell-bounded.
“‘Baahubali 3’ is on cards. But the story that’s written for the two parts will not be dragged for the sake of it. This story will conclude with the second part itself (sic),” Rajamouli posted on his Twitter page. That being said the ace filmmaker went onto add that ‘Baahubali 3′ will be done in a way that audiences have never experienced via films before.
Although there is no clarity on what he meant when he made this statement, but we at TheGraphicSlate.com have strong reason to believe that this visionary stroyteller has an ace up his sleeve, which no one would even be thinking of right now.
Known to be a man who never fears in using the latest in technology to enhance the movie experience for his loyal audiences, Rajamouli worked closely with the global chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). It’s a little known fact that the graphic card manufacturer had a vital role to play in the success of Baahubali as well. AMD worked closely with Arka Mediaworks and Makuta VFX to enable the VFX shots of the film to be planned at a grander scale using AMD FirePro W8100 GPUs, AMD FirePro W9100 GPUs and other AMD technologies to bring the motion picture Baahubali to life.
The senior VP and chief architect of Radeon Technologies at AMD, Raja Koduri played a vital role in bringing alive the visual extravaganza that went onto become what is now called ‘Baahubali’. In an earlier interaction he had mentioned that AMD is focused on delivering the tools for filmmakers to bring their fantasies to life without the burden of calculating or scheduling when the results will happen. AMD helped to create the astounding scenes rendered with precision and visual acuity, and AMD technology will also play a major role in the completion of Baahubali 2 as well, set to release next year.
“I have always been fascinated with big palaces, kings on horses, and thousand-warrior battles, but epic scenes like these can easily be cost-prohibitive to produce,” SS Rajamouli had earlier mentioned on the association with AMD. “To bring these scenes to life, AMD provided us with the professional graphics technology and engineering support that helped us create outstanding cinematic visual effects that push the boundaries of international cinema.”
So coming back to the statement which Rajamouli has made with respect to ‘Baahubali 3′, “it will be done in a way that audiences have never experienced via films before”. We have a strong feeling that the director could well be exploring the realm of virtual reality, given the fact that he is known to think outside the box.
There have been filmmakers in the recent past who have spoken about the possibility of leaping from the 3D, 4D, 5D, 7D and such formats to getting into virtual reality. Gaming is one such area which is already testing waters as to how will virtual reality enhance the experience of a player through use of various supporting devices, so there is no reason why films can’t be experimented with as well.
But the biggest question that lies ahead now is, whether the Indian audience is ready for such a giant leap in their consumption pattern? Well, we guess being what he is known to be – a revolutionary director – Rajamouli would carefully study the feasibility and the need gaps that need to be addressed to make this dream a reality.
‘Baahubali – The Beginning’ has already had its satellite premieres on MAA TV (24 October) and Sony Max (25 October) in Telugu and Hindi languages respectively, with the DVDs and Blu-Rays soon to follow. And ‘Baahubali – The Conclusion’ set to go on floors beginning mid-November, with 40 per cent of the film already being shot earlier, will release sometime in mid-2016 with the same cast of Rana Daggubati, Prabhas, Tamannaah Bhatia, Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan and Sathyaraj reprising their roles and finally the question getting answered, as to why did Kattappa kill Baahubali!
At present there is no real clarity on what ‘Baahubali 3′ (working title) will be about, but it could well be a prequel or a spin-off of the feature. Rajamouli had earlier also mentioned that there are possibilities of many stories to come out of the film, including the back story of Kattappa and the Kalakeya clan, among others.
Visual effects played a major role for the film to only be experienced on the largest screens. Overall the first part had 2,500 VFX shots, which majorly feature the waterfall, war and avalanche sequences. 16 VFX facilities worked tirelessly on completing this project over the last three years of its making, with Makuta VFX and Firefly Creative Studio taking up the major chunk of the work; apart from that Prasad EFX, DQ Entertainment, Tau Films, Part 3, Igene, Srushti VFX, among others worked on the feature.
The VFX supervisor on the project Srinivas Mohan believes that ‘Baahubali – The Beginning’ is the new benchmark for visual effects in India and we couldn’t agree more with him. Now all eyes are on ‘Baahubali – The Conclusion’.
Keep watching this space for more updates and reports on ‘Baahubali’ until then you could also read our other coverage below.
Also Read:
SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali’ will redefine Indian cinema’s landscape for ever
SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali reiterates the tale of good over evil laden with CGI and VFX
Srinivas Mohan believes ‘Baahubali’ is the new benchmark for visual effects in Indian cinema
Exploring the visual soundscape of SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali – The Beginning’
Meet Firefly Creative Studio: The VFX team behind Baahubali’s epic war sequence
A closer look at the epic war sequence of SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali – The Beginning’
Makuta VFX studio reveals the secret behind the 2000 feet waterfall in ‘Baahubali – The Beginning’
AMD technology, the secret weapon behind the visual extravaganza of SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali’
What do Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’ and SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali – The Beginning’ share in common?
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