Travel Diaries - Terrific Thekkady - Part 3

After a close shave, I was clean shaven actually!, with the jumbos in an unforgettable night, Bamboo Rafting should have been the ideal distraction of an attraction from the previous night's fatal destruction. What was said to me was that there would be a small hike to get to the place where the Raft will began its pleasant journey on the undisturbed tranquil waters. But, what was not said was that the small hike was not really small! It was an arduous task to trail and follow the well-laid, I mean planned here!, route to reach our destination especially after the near-death encounter which was playing like an ear worm inside my head. Anything curved or dark or big or tall, it resembled an elephant. Or at least that was how my mind's eye was projecting and toying around those terrifying memories on my conscious mind in the reality. With great difficulty, I speak for myself here!, we reached the spot from where we had the cakes and biscuits that was given to us for free. Or was it? Those eateries were included in the ticket package and were packaged as non-chargeable. There is definitely no such thing as free lunch! 

The Bamboo Rafting was spectacularly fun particularly when you take the initiative and ask the guide to row the raft by yourself. For a beginner as I, it was difficult to say the least. Yet, you could see how physics showing its true colors when you were able to steer the boat with aplomb ease as you hold the oar in one particular direction and a specific angle. Lazing and tiring around with the gentle and soft nature along with the rowing, it was a much needed experience to expunge and obliterate the fires of hell from the previous night. Following the same path down the hiking trail after the rafts were anchored in the docking place, the Bamboo Rafting was a pleasant and satisfying ride until and unless the sun shows its bright sweltering face upon your head!

It was then the full impact of the hike started to show as my entire body was screaming in agony like it was being pricked with pins and needles. I hibernated for the rest of day like a Polar Bear oblivious to the time and I had missed out the boating in the Tiger Reserve in the evening. With shoe bite on my feet, it was taking every ounce of energy even to walk in the next day's Border Hiking (BH). 

The BH was rigorous and strenuous than the "small hike" which was a part of Bamboo Rafting. Fortunately, the co-trekkers were chatty enough to make meaningful and purposeful conversations about themselves, life, nature, movies, animals, philosophy etc. especially two gentlemen from the USA - Kannan and Rudi. Kannan had his roots from Tamil Nadu itself - Tiruvannamalai and Rudi was born and brought up in America. Both were cordial, nice, smart and intelligent to speak on a wide range of topics to go with their photographic skills. We encountered several trees like Cardamom, spices etc., Flying Squirrels, the rare Great Hornbill which is also Kerala's state bird, deers and lots of walking and talking especially when you hear the chilling stories of the guide who happened to be a sandalwood smuggler in his young days but turned a new leaf and joined the reserve to protect the pristine forests from illegal activities. I was reminded of "the hair of the dog that bit you" when one of the guide told all of us that he used to engage in cutting and felling of sandalwood trees in the reserve.  

It was a good long hike where we got to stand on the exact border between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We would have reached earlier had it been not for my stupid shoe bit which I received from the previous day. I felt it was wrong of me to slow down the group because of my painful injury and asked them to go at their pace. But, the entire group was considerate and supportive and were walking slowly enough to reach the starting point together. 

It was then time to bid adieu to Thekkady and proceed to Vipassana in Tiruvannamalai via temple visits at Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple and the world famous Sri Rangam Temple. As Kannan and Rudi were on a break from work and visited India on a leisurely tour, they were gracious enough to give me a lift to Madurai from Thekkady from where they went ahead with their plans to the holy place of Varanasi.  

After paying obeisance to Madurai Meenakshi and kowtowing before the majestic reclining Ranganathar from Trichy, it was time for me to experience one of the baddest, meanest, nastiest yet the truest form of meditation which could be practised anywhere, anytime and on-the-go as proclaimed by the scientific Buddha. Oh yes. Vipassana is refined science at its core. 

More about it in the upcoming blog on The Great Vivisection Vipassana.

                                                     

                                                             X---Concluded---X 

Travel Diaries - Terrific Thekkady - Part 2

How would you feel when you are close to a herd of wild elephants which are just inches away from you? Oh wait. I forgot to mention two essential pieces of facts as well. You are in an actual forest inhabited with tigers, bisons. cobras etc. and such a situation happens to you in the middle of the night. Even if you were to imagine it, the thoughts of being trampled and tossed around like a rag doll by the Tuskers is something not any sane person would want to do in their wildest dreams. Right? Wrong. All the worst case scenarios put together happened to me and other fellow trekkers on that fateful, eventful, shocking and dreadful night.

It started when I bought the necessary tickets to the major places and activities of interest @ Thekkady like Bamboo Rafting, Border Hiking etc. How did I acutely remember the names of the activities? Simple. Google is the secret of my energy! The one expedition which I was eagerly anticipating with relish was to see a full-grown tiger in the wilderness as I was in the Periyar Sanctuary. Sadly, the Tiger Trail was beyond the scope of my budget then and I had to keep it for some other day at some other place in the future. So, the first in the itinerary was to delve into the hearts of the jungle from its periphery during the night time trek. I was told that there would be some other trekkers along with the ranger and his marksman.

The D-time arrived and I was promptly at the appointed time near the gates. As the minutes ticked and trickled, two foreigners, who had also booked for the high octane and action-packed indelible memory, arrived and we were ushered into the ranger's office where we were waiting for other people to join this variegated group embarking on an adventure to be on par with the thrills and chills of The Jurassic Park. 

After exchanging our pleasantries with each other, we strode joyfully and blissfully into the serene night whose air was occasionally punctuated with the sounds, shrills and noises of insects and deers. As we were constantly chatting, the ranger laid out the ground rules to behave in a feral environment especially during the nights and was completely amused by the fact that we were oblivious to the lurking dangers and imminent risks that we were undertaking on the trek. Once when the seriousness of understanding was put forth by him, all of us adhered to his words with the only sound that could be heard then was our own breath. The ranger was confidently unequivocal when he said that we would be very lucky even if we saw one single elephant. Little did he know that we were on the brink of a grave disaster.

Everything was sunshine, okay moonshine!, until his marksman heard the footsteps of an elephant. We had no idea how he was able to comprehend it but the explanation he gave when I asked him how he was able to recognize the footstep as an elephant was that every animal has a distinct thud and also the evidence that an elephant leaves in its trails. Asking us to stay put while he scans the environment, our ranger, in the meantime, had spotted a bison and asked us to take our look at it. The bison was staring at us and if it weren't for a river between us, it may have charged upon us. That was the moment I scowled that I didn't own a DSLR as my mobile cam was as blind as a rhino in the dark. One of the Ground rule - No flashes! So, my camera was as useful as a chocolate teapot. 

Meanwhile, the markman hastily asked us to leave our spots as quiet as a mouse because a baby elephant with its mother was hiding in plain sight a few trees in front of us. We had no idea when we started to run as there was a sudden movement behind us. The ranger and his associate knew where they were going and all their experience was tested then. My fellow trekkers and I were complete amateurs who had no idea of living or being in a wild forest under the moonlights with elephants in the background. 

We ran helter-skelter straying away from the planned route into the unknown territories where one wrong step would have hurled us headlong into the rocky landmass. The air was suddenly tense. We heard some footsteps behind us. Not wanting to know whether it was a deer or a jungle cat or an elephant, our single-minded attention was to move away from the vicinity at the earliest as the ranger had warned us earlier while explaining the ground rules that baby elephants with mothers are more dangerous than Tuskers and she would do anything to protect her offspring. The land was loose and rocky. We were beating a hasty retreat to safer grounds by following our guides. 

After what seemed like eternity, all of us were unharmed and heavily panting on the long grasses from where we could see the most beautiful sight in the world - A herd of  7-10 wild elephants including a Tusker along with their children were softly drinking the chilled water and the baby elephants were happily playing in it. The ranger asked us to be still until they left as any sudden act from our end might result in the beasts to ram into us like a Godzilla onto a hut! Drinking water to their heart's content, they left one by one and finally us as well.

A night not to forget - My big mouth did not keep shut and questioned the relieved ranger as to why we had to run like a hare when he had the guns on his shoulders. His curt response was that though the gunshot might scare away the animal, ours was a unique situation wherein we encountered a mother with her cub and anything could have happened if he had fired the bullet in the air. When small insects began their atrocities on us, it was time for us also to leave into open ground where the terrain was firm and tested and tried. It was then I had a bout of self-realization and tremendous insight that it is always better to leave the animals to their own good in their natural environment as we were the strangers intruding upon their privacy though we meant no harm to them.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and we were able to see glimpses of deers and cats walking and strolling as if the entire world was theirs and time was at their feet. We reached where we started after an hour from the spot where we were all mesmerized the gigantic gentleness of the elephants. They say  "Life's a full circle" . In our case, it was full of twisty straight lines, curves and parabolas! 

                                                         X---To Be Concluded---X

  

Travel Diaries - Terrific Thekkady - Part 1

As the Goan adventure was drawing to a close, it was time for me to say 'Hola' to yet another place to travel and discover positive fresh experiences that will eventually free me from the shackles of my necessary and unnecessary psychological burden. Since I had no set plan to visit the places, it was indeed a streak of fortune that the couple next to me on the flight from Goa to Chennai were talking about Munnar, Thekkady etc. I had already visited Munnar earlier in my life with Mom. So, I decided then that the next stop after Chennai would be Thekkady.

The flight trip also had its share of pleasant surprises. Yesteryear's famous and dashing Kollywood actress, Khushboo boarded the same plane as mine @ Hyderabad, or was it Vishakhapatnam?! I forgot the stopover place now. But, she got in and occupied the very first row amidst selfies taken by her fans with her. Obviously! But, one thing was certain. The amount of money I had spent on the transportation - be it the train, bus or flight - was far more than I had expensed on my food. In hindsight when I reasoned why, it was extremely evident that the reason was attributed to a single and solid fact that as I was going with the flow of things, there was no time to pre-book for any mode of travel. Though the fares were expensive, whatever was cheap and best at that moment I afforded to commute. A BIG learning experiential lesson to the adverse effects of no planning which was bad, in fact, worse than bad planning. 

The trip to Thekkady wasn't smooth sailing at all. No, I didn't actually sail!  I caught a couple of last minute trains to Kochi only to find out that there was a strike happening when I arrived there. It was a classic situation "When it rains, it pours". Bad luck was following me like my shadow irrespective whether the light was there or not! After enquiring from the bus terminus, which was close to the Kochi Railway station, that all the buses would ply only in the morning, I had no other alternative but to stay for the night in a decent hotel near the bus station itself as the bus to Thekkady was due in the wee hours of the morning. 

Hurriedly rushing to the nearby terminus in the morning without even having a glass of coffee or tea after a good night's sleep, I got the bus at the eleventh hour. No, it was around 6 am in the morning! Excusing my appalling joke, with window seat, unpolluted air and music, the trip to Thekkady was not bad. But, the real problem started after I alighted at Thekkady's Tiger reserve.    

The accommodations were well over my budget and if it weren't for a local automan, I have no idea where I would have stayed. The magnanimous autowallah took me to a safe place in a residential area which had restaurants nearby and the main bazaar which was a stone's throw away from the place.

I was amazed by the business model for the accommodations apart from the standard hotels in Thekkady. Most of the house owners had constructed extra rooms on their land and were earning additional income by letting it to tourists and travellers for a comfortable stay at prices relatively inexpensive than the actual hotels. As the autowallah was a local, it was also easy for me to traverse around the place and find out from him the main attractions. He was also polite enough to escort me to a properly approved booking centre where I was able to choose the main deals without burning a hole in my wallet. Of course, he may have earned a commission from both the house owner and the reservation office . No questions on that. But, he had the heart at least to help a person in need.    

What I did not know then was that an unforgettable and excitable turn of events was in the stars for me.

                                                                       X---To Be Concluded---X 

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - The Shield is Simply Impenetrable..!

It's official. The long list of superhero movies that are to be screened in this season has begun with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (GoTG 2). No. Please don't say that The Lego Batman movie had hit the theatres earlier. For starters, I haven't seen it yet. No good fmovies print..! Second - Though the movie utilizes characters like Batman, Joker etc., it is still technically not a superhero film.

With this brief introduction, let's nosedive without much ado into the rollicking world of the Galaxians. 

GoTG 2 has loads of funny moments as its predecessor even in the gravest of the plot points. But, that's the problem as well. It's like a double-edged sword. As we had seen elaborately the fresh, original and fit as a fiddle content in GoTG 1, the fights sequences with music playing in the background or Rocket's hatred for calling him a pet or raccoon seemed to be a bit repetitive. To give an example of it, home-truths are like a Bitter gourd. But, when it is packaged as tasty chips, it becomes acceptable and satisfactory to the person who hears the hard truths about themselves. What I wanted to say is that although the jokes revolving about Rocket were old as a dinosaur, the way in which they were presented was absolutely cracking. Take for example - calling Rocket as "Triangular-faced Monkey" or "Fox" or Drax's wicked humor in urging Mantis to pet Rocket was atrociously funny when being in the moment of the scenes.

Likewise, the second half was dragging like a Monday Morning meeting especially when the Star-Lord battles his biological father 'Ego'. It was so never-ending that you could have completely watched GoTG 1 during that time...! However, the entire movie is spectacularly colorful as the brightest butterfly - be it the Ego's planet when we are showed for the first time or the royal tribute that the Ravager's give Yondu at his funeral - GoTG 2 was dazzlingly saturated with loads of vibrant hues that were visually pleasing and appealing without being jutting out like a steel rod in a construction place.

GoTG 2 was as wacky as GoG 1 in its script and execution particularly the mind-blowing moments when Yondu's telekinetic red arrow whistled through space on his whistle to ensure that his crews meet their makers. No, not the director and producer of GoTG 2..! Forgiving my poor joke, that scene where his red arrow moved in and out through solid screens and about the place was simply too good to be true.

Also, Baby Groot was as adorable as Dory in 'Finding Dory'. So, many awwwwwwwwwww-inducing sequences that Baby Groot was extraordinarily cute and enchantingly endearing whenever he featured in the movie. During the post-credits, it was side-splitting when Quill says how Yondu must have felt when he was an adamant brat as an adolescent on seeing Groot grown to be a teenager.

The only major issue which I saw in GoTG 2 was not the repetitive recurrence of old humor in new package. But, the fact that most of the good scenes were already out in the open during the teasers and trailers. It creates a sense of heightened expectation for the audiences that the movie will offer us even more wonderfully and beautifully choreographed visual settings in the screenplay. But, when the movie fails to deliver the expectation that it has deliberately created during the teasers and trailers to attract the masses, it is then things go awry.

To put it in simple Marketing terms, Over Promise and Under Deliver. DO NOT EVER DO IT. It will widen the credibility gap between the fans and the filmmakers. There will not be any repeat takers for the film or a positive word-of-mouth from the viewers. If it had been like the Tamil film "Kabali" or DC's "Batman Vs Superman" where the creators insanely hyped the desires and anticipations of many fans across the world through their thumping trailers and punch dialogues but did not live up to that great expectation set by them during the actual screening that really left many of them in complete disappointment. GoTG 2 might have ended up following in their footsteps.

For instance, the scene where Mantis empaths on Quill and reveals his secret when they meet for the first time. That shouldn't have been shown when they were making the teasers or trailers. We should have seen it for the first time in the theatres. It would have been an astronomically laughter moment then and would have definitely left us wanting for more such hilarious settings in the course of the film. Instead, it was like "Yeah..I have seen it in the trailers. Nothing new. So, what?". Luckily, for GoTG 2, they had lots of other good and solid moments to compensate this best-of-the-best scenes in the movie. 

The trailer should be in such a way that it should project the best sequences without explicitly and fully divulging out the complete details of the plot to anyone. It should be like...You have to show but not show it. It's like you get super-excited on seeing a pair of sharp cleavages of a woman's invaluable assets when she deliberately bends down. But, when you explore it to find out that it was utter waste of time, how do you feel? 

On the contrary, how fantastic you feel when you discover to your satisfaction that the deliberate exposure was your hard-earned money's worth. That's exactly what I am talking about. Nowadays, the trailers shell out a lot of details than is necessary like Thor: Ragnarok. I am having my reservations, no! not in the theatre!, that the finished product might not exceed the trailer's set thirsting for this movie. I hope to be proved wrong by Thor's team. For that, we have to wait till November.

In the mean while, GoTG 2 has stolen the march, though it is still May, from the other superhero films like Wonder Woman, Justice League etc. by timing their release to impeccable perfection and execution to almost flawless best.

Baahubali: The Conclusion - Long Live the Kinggggggg! Part 2

Just like how Baahubali has dual parts, I felt it would be apt and fitting if my review was also split into two as well.

B2 has a storyline of a similar ilk of the yesteryear dual roles MGR flicks. If you have watched Avatar, then you will know that the movie is total crap when the VFX layers are skimmed, removed and deleted from the film. Similarly, even Gods couldn't have saved B2 had it been not for the special effects that really lit up the screens like a blazing sun. To put it in a nutshell, it is like an old wine in a new bottle. In B2's case, it's like transferring the old wine into the most expensive Scotch Bottle on a grandeur scale.

Though Prabhas has done an mind-blowing job by wholeheartedly committing to the entire duration of this ginormous project by undergoing and enduring physical pains to his physique, the sheer strength of his raw muscles just couldn't strike a chord. I will just give a simple example. When Hulk or The Iron Man was unable to lift the Mjolnir, you can vicariously have the feel of the tremendous effort that they have exerted on Thor's Hammer. But, you don't get to have any such experience whenever Shivu or Amarendra Baahubali performed their daring and daredevilry acts of valor and heroism. Also, the duration of the film was a tad too long. Had it been crisper and tauter, B2 would have been an edge of seat engager.

Everything was CGI including the elephants, cows, bulky chariots etc. that you see Prabhas's immense workout has resulted in a supreme toned bod but you don't get to feel his superior power behind those ripped muscles. Maybe, if the elephants and cows had been a live-action CGI as in The Jungle Book, the connection would have been better. I don't know.

Also, I was able to see only Arjuna as Brihannala helping Prince Uttara when Prabhas was behind the I-forgot-his-name person during the wild boar hunt which did not become a bore! Only Rajamouli will know whether he ripped off the scene from The Mahabharata. Likewise, it was like a straight lift off from The Batman Vs Superman when Prabhas was being embraced by his people.

As we are on the topic of Superman, just like how Prabhas was soaring like a Flying Man here and there in the movie, my thoughts were giving equally challenge to him by wondering what would have happened had Ajith or Vijay performed such action sequences. One thing was positive - The Social Media would have been flooded with rains of memes to the extent that the Internet might have been declared a holiday on account of the incessant downpour..!

Condoning my bad pun of a meaningful example, we were shown in the first installment that Bhalla's son is killed by Shivu. There was this nagging question as to how Bhalla would have handled his wife with Devasena in the pits. Sadly, Bhalla's wife is nowhere to be seen in the picture, pun intended. At least, Rajamouli could have given a glimpse of her drawing..!

But, most importantly, NO ONE CAN STEAL DARTH VADER'S THEME for ANYTHINGGGGGGGGG. There were certain places when Bhalla was striding all alone in the frame, you could hear the world-famous 'Imperial March' from Star Wars being played in the background. Technically, it's not Rajamouli's blunder as it is the Music Director who held the reins to the backscore. Maybe, he got inspired by John Williams's theme. Once again, I don't know.

Being the costliest and grandest movie to have ever been made in Indian History, Rajamouli could have cutback his marketing expenses by extending a special invite to Modi Ji. What better way to have a sweeping and lasting impact and reach than the leader of a nation saying in the Social Media that the film is good.

I sincerely hope that atleast Director Shankar has the horse sense to have an exclusive screening for the PM prior to Robot 2.0's release as the movie is in tune with the 'Make in India' strategy.

In fact, with the PM elections less than 2 years from now, if I were in Modi Ji's Marketing Cell, I would have wisely and prudently hard sold the PM's welfare rollouts to all the leading directors and script writers who collaborates with the Khans and Kumars to discreetly and subtly incorporate them into their films. Some might aver that it is unethical but it's Embedded Marketing. In this case, instead of Patek Philippe watches or Aston Martins, you have Modi Ji's beneficial schemes infused into the screenplay.

With the PM or without the PM, Rajamouli has achieved something extraordinary for Indian films through his magnum opus venture. Flaws and mistakes are a part of life. When we overlook them, Baahubali will be the touchstone that every aspiring director would love to emulate and at least come close to the visual magnificence if not excel its splendidness. It is indeed a capstone of Indian Cinema.

The true king in the movie is not Prabhas. As is the meaning of his name, Rajamouli is the 'King of Kings' of the Baahubali epic which has generated and garnered such an immense and intense attention, attraction, admiration and appreciation from all quarters of the world for the cinematic flair, management finesse and technical brilliance that he has not only brought in but also mesmerized all of us. Thank you Sir for wowing everyone with mind-blasting visuals and stunning sets which could be broken only by you.

                                                                     
                                                                  X---Concluded---X

PS:
Instead of being an audience, I just imagined how Rajamouli may have handled such a gargantuan people management which involved numerous stakeholders fraught with innumerable risks and uncertainties. It would have been literally a nightmare for him to coordinate every single one of them on such a massive scale for a period close to half a decade. To pull off this kind of a King Kong sized project with flying colors is nothing short of spectacular and truly remarkable. The entire team of Baahubali - not just the lead actors and actresses - but the technicians, extras, art directors etc. has got to be given a loud round of applause. This kind of man power is of the scale utilized in the Titanic film. That's why I addressed Rajamouli as the James Cameron of India. In short, he has epitomized "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained".

Baahubali: The Conclusion - Long Live the Kinggggggg! Part 1

What to say. Where to start. Somewhere, the line must be drawn. Maybe, like this ----------------------?

Sometimes, my pathetic jokes are such that even I bang my head against the nearest wall just like how I am doing now as this word is being keyed in.

Rajamouli has incredibly and insanely antes up the yardstick for film-making to such a stupendous level that it will require another yardstick to measure the already using yardstick to apprise his directorial competence. Sounds dizzying, dazing and a bit crazying, right? That was exactly how I felt as I was witnessing this visual spectacle from the visionary eyes of the James Cameron from our country. You will understand as to the reference of James Cameron soon.

Right from the introduction where B1 was narrated very succinctly using precise sketches to refresh our memories instead of a background narration saying "Previously this is what happened in B1", you know you are in for the visual treat of your life by the ace director. Take for instance. There was this sublime top-angle shot of a lush, verdant field in Devasena's kingdom and the camera was locked in that position for a brief time to indicate and reveal the prosperity of the place. It may not have seemed like a big scene in the grander scheme of the movie but Rajamouli really wanted everything to be in apple-pie order and that was crystal-clearly evident in that particular freeze. One might say that they have seen such things in a Hollywood film. Agreed. No Denials. But, this is the first for an Indian film. We should be proud of the fact that an Indian director is pushing the frontiers of our National Pride across the length and breadth of the world.

Likewise, the chariot with huge, razor-sharp and rotating blades with arrows spewing from under the hood was ingenuity at its consummate best. Similarly, the lightning forming Mahendra Baahubali's image when his son was out there to avenge his dad's death and reclaim his rightful throne was an electrifying, pun intended, moment and a sight to behold. So was the interval block which was one of the solid power-packed punches in recent times that will be engraved in our minds like your name on your home doors.

Prabhas was fantastic in his portrayal as Amarendra Baahubali especially in the scene where he walks, like an angry lion in a cage, behind the person who apprehended and cuffed Devasena when she chopped his fingers for his unscrupulous and reprehensible act. And the setting where he was in the forefront leading Bhalla during the latter's coronation ceremony evoked a deep sense of sympathy to Prabhas for the way he projected his emotions then. However, B2 belonged to the 2 fine ladies who simply scorched the film with their arsenal of artistic capabilities. No, I am not talking about Tamannah here. She was more like a mango pickle in a sumptuous buffet instead of being a delicious dessert to sate your taste buds.

I was talking about Ramya Krishnan and Anushka when I referred to the 2 fine ladies. In B1, Anushka had an extremely limited role to play just like how Tamannah has in B2. However, Anushka as the fiery, ferocious, confident and afraid-of-none Devasena added the extra spice and hotness to the marvel created by the director. It was a touch sad that from an able warrior who could bravely safeguard and defend herself, Devasena was reduced like any other normal heroine for her to be protected by someone else.

Continuing her splendid performance from B1, Ramya Krishnan had the role to play as a strategic Raja Mata which was on par with her performance as Neelambari in 'Padayappa' particularly the scenes where her ego and inner moral conflict were in constant tussle to be seen an authoritative figure in the kingdom. Excepting for his exaggerated and effusively fulsome praise to the I-forgot-his-name-coward-turned-courage person, Sathyaraj as Kattappa was outstanding in his portrayal of the loyal soldier who wants to do the right thing but is completely caught in a quandary due to his ancestor's allegiance with the royal family and the political intrigues that was happening within the palace walls.

It wasn't just the VFX or the rendition of the actors which has set a benchmark that only Rajamouli can eclipse. Madhan Karky's dialogues were like a key to a car called Baahubali 2. Take for example. Nasser abuses and disrespects Kattappa by calling him a 'Dog' in the very first scene where he hatches up a plot to assassinate Sivagami. To which, Kattappa replies that he smelled the conspiracy as he is a dog when he was questioned whether he was eavesdropping. Also, it was a fabulous piece of writing when Prabhas goes into a poetic and romantic mode when he describes the moon and love parrots. It was equally good and humorous when Sathyaraj sees the scenario from his perspective.

The number of mammoth man-hours that has been put forth in this saga ensured that the bottom hadn't fallen out at any point in time but instead ensured that the herculean efforts has brought the house down courtesy the director's extreme involvement and deep single-minded resolute to eat, sleep and breathe Baahubali until the last VFX was done and dusted.

Rajamouli has proved that even sky's not the limit for him as he has made sure that B2 is memorable beyond the famous cliff-hanger of a question "Why Katappa killed Baahubali" that was on the mental lips of almost everyone for close to 2 years.

So, only positives. No negatives? Of course, it has. 

                                                          X---To be CONCLUDED---X

PS:

                                        The negatives are here... :) :)