International Feature: Baahubali The Beginning

@PhilTheFilipino & @MrEricAlmighty have had an interest to explore foreign content more than ever before, and for that reason, we will occasionally highlight international gems on the podcast. So, whether you're a fan of cinema or just looking for an exciting movie to watch, join us on this episode to discover why Baahubali: The Beginning is a must-watch movie! We keep our thoughts spoiler-free for the majority of this episode before transitioning into a brief spoiler discussion.

IMDb Synopsis: A child from the Mahishmati kingdom is raised by tribal people and one day learns about his royal heritage, his father's bravery in battle and a mission to overthrow the incumbent ruler.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it.

Speaker 2: 0:05

Gaming. Wait for it, anime Plus Ultra. Mr Eric Almighty and Phil Vafilippino. Yeah, they've got you covered and all you gotta do is Wait for it.

Speaker 2: 0:35

Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Wait for it podcast. I am your co-host, phil Smith, aka Phil Vafilippino, and joining me, as always for our international features, is your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty. And Eric, we're back here again for another edition of what has been a very, very fun series so far. And finally, you what's the word I'm looking for here? You gave into my wishes and my request to please let's watch something that won't just leave us in some state of depression and we'll enjoy, for different reasons. And you know what. We've had this movie kind of on the shelf, just kind of waiting for us to watch, and we finally did. And you know, obviously it has ties to a very, very special film here at the Wait for it podcast called RRR. You may have heard us talk about it a couple of times. I don't know if you've been listening or how long you've been listening. However, eric, again a conversation that is very much overdue and very much excited to get into it here today.

Speaker 1: 1:35

Yeah, so, speaking of RRR, that was the last time we watched like anything close to wholesome fun, any of that. I'm just looking down the list. That was in July of 2022. So one year anniversary of our episode and we're bringing it back Same director. I'm excited to talk about this. This was something that was, like you said, on our radar and, for context, we're going to be talking about Bahubali the beginning. There is a conclusion that we've not yet seen, so I'm excited to also dive into that. And, who knows, if this, if this episode, does numbers, maybe we'll do a part two, but I'm excited to talk about the first half of it with you.

Speaker 2: 2:19

To give you guys an idea of how international feature goes, because I let Eric pick the film. He'll be like, hey, I watched this movie about a Holocaust survivor amputee orphan. Do you want to watch that for international feature? And I'm like sure, let's watch that. And that's how the process goes.

Speaker 1: 2:40

Yeah, it hasn't. My track record hasn't been great. Now we've enjoyed pretty much every movie. So after RRR, just for context, I believe the raid was next, which was fun, you know, in its own way. But then you know, fun is that it just went downhill, because then it was Children of Men. That was. That was a tough one decision to leave. That one was a tough one. The banches of it is shearing. Now that was funny. That's a funny movie.

Speaker 1: 3:10

But very tough, though Also very sad, yeah, and then I'll quiet on the Western front to kind of like top it off. So I feel like we were overdue for the moment. You just sometimes you got to let it happen and this was the right time. So I'm excited, I'm excited to do this.

Speaker 2: 3:29

We should have done Paddington for late to the party and then Paddington to for international feature one.

Speaker 1: 3:35

We should have done like that.

Speaker 2: 3:37

Cheating? I don't think so we watched what was that Irish movie? Not Irish movie. What was the war movie you just said it Not Children of Men.

Speaker 1: 3:46

The one right before Right on the Western Front.

Speaker 2: 3:48

No, no, no, not the raid either. I have to go back and look at it, but there was one that was just directed, I think, by an Irish director, and you're like no, this is fine. So I feel like there's some wiggle room there.

Speaker 1: 4:01

Yeah, we'll see.

Speaker 2: 4:02

Regardless, this has been a very, very fun series and I hope you guys have enjoyed it as well, because, again, we are all about expanding our horizons here at the Wait For it podcast. The more and more we watched international films, international television shows, it really all started, you know, for a guy to give you guys a little background, with Parasite and Squid Game, and we were like you know what? There's a whole world of films and TV shows out there that we want to open ourselves up to and that is why we ended up here. So it's been a whole lot of fun getting into this series and this episode is certainly not going to be any different. So, eric, before we dive into Bihubali and everything, all the craziness that happened to this one you can certainly see the roots of RRR being planted within this film and his filmmaking style. So tell everybody a little bit about what a national feature is all about and let's discuss and dive into this movie because, yeah, there's a whole lot to talk about.

Speaker 1: 4:54

Yeah, we kind of did a little bit of this already, guys. So, if you're new to the podcast, we've had an interest to explore foreign content more than ever before, so for that reason I will occasionally highlight international gems, typically every other month, and for this episode, of course, we are doing Bihubali the beginning. So I'm very excited to get into this spoiler free for those of you that haven't seen it Again. We're featuring this after all, but at the end we will throw in some spoilers, if not for anybody else, but Peter, who will probably listen to this and has been a very good friend of the show, been recommending this since we told him about RRR.

Speaker 2: 5:34

Yeah, and I think that's another reason he was so excited to watch RRR, because it did come from the same director and it was, you know, cut from the same cloth and yeah, so really, really excited to talk about this one here. To give you guys a quick synopsis of Bihubali the beginning it came out in 2015,. A child from the Mahishmati Kingdom there's probably going to be some mispronunciations in this episode, just want to let you guys know it is not on purpose Is raised by tribal people and one day learns about his royal heritage, his father's bravery in the battle and a mission to overthrow the incumbent ruler. This is available currently on Netflix the first and second film. And Eric, yeah, obviously we already talked about it. You know we're here because of RRR, we're here because of Peter, my brother-in-law and man. It's certainly on par with what we have already seen from SS Rajamoli and I think what I really enjoyed about going back and watching this is you can just see kind of his.

Speaker 2: 6:35

You see a style of filmmaking and humor and action set pieces. You see like all of that kind of the beginnings of where we ended up with RRR and it was pretty cool. It was kind of like going back and reading his diary or something like that. You know what I mean, like seeing what he wanted to do eventually and then perfected in RRR. Obviously there's still some pretty bad CGI and all that and campiness in this movie. It's whatever, man, you're here to have a good time and for the most part I did. We'll probably talk about some nitpicky stuff a little bit later, but yeah, overall, eric, I'm really glad we got to finally sit down and watch this and I do certainly plan on watching the conclusion, because they left us hanging.

Speaker 1: 7:18

Yeah, it should be noted. This movie ends on a complete cliffhanger. When we were determining where to fit in this movie, that would have been good information to know. We knew there was a conclusion, but you never know with movies. They had a sequel that wasn't supposed to be. There's rumors RRR is going to have a sequel. That movie doesn't need one, right? So I just didn't know if that was pre-planned. It's clearly pre-planned.

Speaker 1: 7:43

So if you are going to watch but who believed the beginning? Understand this is very much a one half of a story that's being told. But you mentioned with the director, like I really enjoy the style that he has, and you know one thing that I enjoy the most with these type of films it has a little bit of everything. This movie and a lot of the films that fall under this director's chair are just so much fun. They're so bombastic, they are absolutely crazy. You just you forget about the seriousness of what a movie needs to be and you kind of have that suspense of the suspense of disbelief. No, that's not what I'm trying to say. Yeah, suspend your disbelief. Yeah, yeah, you're trying to suspend your disbelief and it does work. It really does when you're looking at this type of film, phil. It is very much fast in the furious, except it doesn't take itself seriously, like it's very much in that in that zone, and I love it.

Speaker 2: 8:50

Man, if, fast in the furious, had like musical dance breaks, it would be like the perfect film. It really would. And there's, there would be no stopping you watching it because it would be fantastic. Although we have heard Vin Diesel sing and you know what. We actually don't need that. Never mind, we do not track that previous. I retract that previous statement. We have already heard that. But yeah, it is just a lot of fun. I will say this I was a little concerned in the beginning, and there's a lot of, there's going to be a lot of like Instances here that just really aren't fair to boo-billy, because all we have to compare it to is our, our.

Speaker 2: 9:23

We watched that first, which probably shouldn't have been the case. We should have already seen boo-billy, but that's not how it happened. So I did get a little concern in the beginning because it really just wasn't gripping me in terms of what the story was, and you know, sometimes with subtitles it can get a little lost in translation. So I had to rewind a couple of times make sure I was following it correctly. I'm, and then you know the scene where he is making his way up the Of the waterfall and dancing with some sexy ghost woman. I was like all right, I mean.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Let's do this. Yeah, no, again. This movie has so many crazy elements to it, and is that our force ghost it? Honestly, I have no way to explain the things that happen in this movies. That's. That's why everybody that's listening is like I'm sorry, what? It's not even a spoiler, because you wouldn't believe us If we told you what happened in this movie, but it's those surprises that made it interesting. I'm there with you, phil.

Speaker 1: 10:21

The beginning of this movie is an interesting start. Water out of the ocean made me laugh. The water out of the ocean, the hand out of the ocean, made me laugh. It was just that was so ridiculous. And Then it just continues to up the ante, but at some point it becomes so comical that it is. It's genuinely funny. And again, this movie in no point, I think, takes itself too seriously, even with some of the more serious tones. And that's what I enjoy. I really do. It's not, as it's not exactly what I expected, but by the end of it I Kind of it kind of fell more in line with what I thought it would be. So again, beginning of the movie. You're kind of feeling the water. You're just kind of feeling, you know, dipping your toe in once you make the jump, it's completely worth it.

Speaker 2: 11:11

Yeah, I will say, and maybe we'll kind of also fit in some criticisms here. I will say, probably in the Middle section is where I started to get disinterested again until we, you know, we started to learn about the main characters origin a little bit more and his father and everything like that. I'm gonna get a little bored in that. In those portions they also, I think, for a little bit they they kind of they separated the two characters as far as the guy and the girl and I'm Not 100% remembering the character names here. I know I believe it's pronounced Avantika I'm not sure if that's how you pronounce their characters name but they, they separated them for a little bit.

Speaker 2: 11:54

And you know, that's what I was kind of really interested in seeing, kind of like that Blossom. You know one of our favorite parts to RRR is the romance of it and everything like that. So I might fall off a little bit there. But it did pull me right back in when it came to the flashback because I was like, oh, this is, this is where he got. He got that inspiration and where he really like was how can I outdo what I did in Buhubali If this is the first movie? I can't even imagine what happens in the conclusion of the film.

Speaker 1: 12:25

I'm gonna. I'm gonna let you know. Couldn't help myself. I did look at a couple clips and it's wild. I'm so excited to get into the second one because it's just, it ups the ante. I think they go. Obviously they don't need to focus on the story as much, so they just go balls to the wall which, based off of a couple things I've read, is pretty much what happens. So I'm good with that.

Speaker 1: 12:47

I think the story, while it took a minute to get there in this first one, was solid. Like I was very interested in Boo-hoo-bo-lee and what this character meant to everyone else in this world and what the kind of secret was of this character and their backstory, because obviously they start off pretty much an unknown To us as the audience. So I really enjoyed those elements of it. And there were great characters in here. You know you brought up Avantika, I believe is that that's how it's spelt. So I believe you were right that she was great. And then I loved pretty much the rest of this supporting cast. Kata kata pa, I think it's his name. He was really cool, the old guy with the sword with that could fight. He was legit. I liked everybody in this. Like there wasn't a character I found annoying or that I disliked and Really, I mean, that's all you can ask from a for from a film like this.

Speaker 1: 13:45

That is Not taking itself seriously. So if you want to just have a good time, you're just want to enjoy something, I think this is perfect. I don't think, if you take it seriously, that it's going to be, you know, a bad time. And, phil, I will say up until the end, which, again, because it feels it feels a little bit like they're preparing you for the next one. That's when I started to to worry like, oh no, I think this really is a part one that, for that, two hours does go by pretty quickly, up until the flashback. So the two and a half hours I Mean it doesn't really feel longer than that. It feels appropriate.

Speaker 2: 14:23

If, yeah, if you have seen RRR, I would say this is required viewing, just because you have to see Again, like where this director kind of kind of started and you know he's had projects before this as far as SS Roger. Really, but like getting to see, you know, kind of a lot of the same elements that we saw in RRR here Was really really cool again, like going back in time and reading, you know, your favorite directors journal. So really really cool. I yeah, two and a half hours.

Speaker 2: 14:49

It is easy, as with all films that are subtitle heavy or just all subtitle, you just have to constantly pay attention. So I know that's a little bit difficult and I'm not excusing myself either. Sometimes you look away and then you miss a whole line of really important dialogue. So the only thing you just have to make sure you pay attention. But I think it's required viewing for anybody that enjoyed RRR. And if, for some reason, you're listening to this podcast and you haven't watched RRR, I guess watch these first and then go to RRR. I don't know. I mean, the only thing I that's really is missing is like there's nothing on here. As far as me, like I'm not gonna go back and listen to any of these songs, the way that I still listen to RRR, but again, that is a. That's not anything I should hold against behoubili. You know what I mean. It's not their fault.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Is this what I sound like? Every time I see a movie after your name, I'm like weathering with you yes, okay yeah, susan May. Yeah, that was okay, it's not your name.

Speaker 2: 15:44

You're doing right now, I there's nothing I can do. How am I supposed to like? For you it's a top five film, for me it's borderline top five. So like, how am I supposed to Criticize it? Film that's not as good as RRR? What am I supposed to say? It's not as good but it's still good.

Speaker 1: 16:00

I get, I get it. It is, it is still good. I think this is a great spot fill for us to transition, you know, into some spoilers. Of course, those of you that haven't seen the film Tread lightly here, but you know we, we got everything in the show notes for you, everything you mean, especially if you're recurring listener. You know the drill. We got a huge library of content for you to dive into. So, with that being said, fill any any final words spoiler free before we Transition into this spoiler part.

Speaker 2: 16:29

No, I'll just say if you are gonna leave for the spoiler part and then come back, the last thing I'll leave you with is 90% tomato meter score. On rotten tomatoes 86% audience score. So there you go. Do with that what you will.

Speaker 1: 16:44

That's right, cuz rotten tomatoes rules everything. So you've officially been warned of the last five minutes or so of this episode. It's gonna be for for Peter and whoever else decided to stick around. So yeah, this movie was crazy. Absolutely nuts. Phil, is there anything spoiler-wise that you want to just talk about, cuz we haven't spoken about the movie at all?

Speaker 2: 17:09

I mean Again, there's the whole dance up the waterfall. There's him somehow Painting Hanna underwater. That's interesting, I don't. I don't know how Hanna works, but I don't know what's underwater.

Speaker 1: 17:23

Listen, he won me over, but he was creeping hard. He was wanting to do it in the water.

Speaker 2: 17:29

But then the snake thing, I was gonna say listen, you know I don't have a great dating record. Maybe I need to carry a little snake in a, in a little thing and a little pouch and then paint henna on someone's shoulder. I don't know. I'm not not sold on that. To be honest with you.

Speaker 1: 17:47

Yeah, I don't, I don't know and like I get who Belie is like this manly man and like he's like the best. But I really like the female character, the lead female character, and then the second he comes, she's just like well, I'm a lady I'm a girl.

Speaker 1: 18:03

So that was. That was interesting. I'm sure that's more of a cultural thing, especially with, like, some of the lyrics. So like it was fine, I didn't mind it that much, but it was one of those things like it was just like one thing on top of another. Obviously, I'm mentioning at the beginning of the movie this baby is held up like 25 minutes, 30 minutes an hour, and then she just disappears in the water. So from the start this movie is just absolutely wild. And then everything they do, like I really think they that this would be really good if they were like actual gods, like if we knew they were gods, like Indian gods or something, because the things they do in this movie are nuts and I just know that it goes up a whole nother level in the next one.

Speaker 2: 18:51

Yeah, there's the part with the bull. Oh, he's literally grabbing a bull by the horns and just wrestling a giant bull to the ground. It's wild man. And again, my favorite part of the movie is definitely the flashback, because again, everything that's great about our that just gave me flashbacks to that. It certainly knows what it is, leans into it Some really bad CGI, but at this point it's just like it's just part of it. You saw, you talked about the baby already, but like even more so as you go farther into the movie.

Speaker 1: 19:25

Yeah, I mean it was, it was 2015.

Speaker 2: 19:28

The part down the avalanche. That's pretty bad.

Speaker 1: 19:32

That avalanche was bad, but you know, like I didn't take it too seriously because like it was 2015. And if you look at, if you look at the director's filmography, like and again, I'm totally guessing here, but I don't think he really this was the movie that he had. That budget, Like everything prior to that, was fairly small. I don't see anything that I've ever heard of here. I'm obviously not very well versed in Indian films, but nothing I've ever even remotely heard of before. And I think that that was like his big break.

Speaker 1: 20:08

He probably went crazy in the second one and they were like, all right, well, this guy knows how to make a movie. And then they gave him the budget that he needed for RRR. So that's kind of what I'm assuming and I'm willing to give it a pass for that reason that it was like his entry into that, because we don't like RRR has CGI but it's not. I mean, it's like campy bad sometimes but it's not often, in my opinion, Like other than the fact that they have to CGI the animals. There's only one shot in RR that looks bad quote unquote like the way Bahubali does, and it's when he throws the kid. He throws the kid and there's that flame explosion behind him. It's when they really get ready to grab hands for the first time. Other than that, though, I can't think of anything this movie. I could think of like 20 scenes that were like ugh, did we have to do that here? Did we have to put that in the movie is the real question.

Speaker 2: 21:07

But I don't know man like him. Throwing dudes at other dudes was pretty, pretty dope.

Speaker 2: 21:13

The King throwing guys at Bahubali pretty, pretty cool. And you know Tollywood and Bollywood films have this kind of a reputation of just being over the top. You know everyone's seen the memes of like Bollywood Spider-Man and everything like that. Like their superhero films are always really, really over the top. So I think the difference is with at least with the films we've seen now from SS Rajamali, is like they. Well, I've never seen Bollywood Spider-Man, I guess I'll promise that is these stories do seem to have a lot of heart, even though there is a lot of campiness in them and again, like I said, they're a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 21:48

Yeah, eric, as far as like budget, here I do have the numbers here from Wikipedia. The budget for Bahubali, the beginning was 28.6 million and it box office grossed 101.32 million these are being converted to US dollars, of course and then the second movie, 38.39 million and it grossed 275.43 in US dollars. So obviously this movie is not releasing here, it's releasing over in India. But that's huge. Those are huge numbers, at least I believe. I'm not sure how it works as far as like Tollywood and Bollywood box office. But yeah, they definitely gave him more money and he brought in more money. So the proof is in the pudding. That's what you like to see.

Speaker 1: 22:27

Phil, anything else that is noteworthy here before we wrap up this episode, I think we, like I said, there were a couple of spoiler things we wanted to throw in here, just a couple of minutes spending time on. I can't really think of anything else that really needs to again. That twist at the end pretty good and it was like oh, there's an animated series on Amazon Prime. I saw that. I was hoping you wouldn't notice that. Let's go. It's also a game, Philip. Anything else that you'd like to talk about before we drag this?

Speaker 2: 23:06

into. No, I'm going to go download these things. So, after I watch the second one, there's a manga. There's a Japanese monk, eric. There's a 2018 Japanese manga.

Speaker 1: 23:15

All right. Well, now you got me All right, that's fine, I'll do.

Speaker 2: 23:18

It's called, let's see, oh, that's fine, it's just called Buhubili, but okay, yeah, but there you go, you got to go find it.

Speaker 1: 23:25

All right, I'll go find it. You'll get Andrew on or somebody for a game, or episode of Buhubili.

Speaker 2: 23:31

It's a mobile game, so I'm not going to play that.

Speaker 1: 23:33

Oh, okay. Yeah, that's unfortunate, but you know so. If there's nothing else, Phil, why don't you let everybody that is still here? You want to let them know where they can find us, and we'll wrap this up.

Speaker 2: 23:46

Yeah well, thanks for sticking around for all of our ranting. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Again, international feature, something we do every other month. So if you are looking for more international films that you'd like to check out, go check out the rest of our library, which you can find in our link tree link. In the show notes of this episode You'll also find all of our social media pages. If you would like to reach out to us, let us know you're listening, give us any feedback, all of that, and you can also head on over to Apple Podcast or Spotify. If you feel like supporting the podcast, give us those five star reviews and if you want to go the extra mile with supporting the show, eric will let you know how you can do that.

Speaker 1: 24:20

Just like our favorite patron Briar, you can join our Patreon and provide some support for us, where you will get unedited episodes, early access and potentially some merch, so check it out. You can also just support us straight from our Buzzsprout page, which we truly appreciate. If you can go that extra mile, At the very least continue to like comment share. We really appreciate the engagement Since pole mat. Sorry, we have a lot of interviews that have been just going really, really well on Instagram. Our TikTok has been doing nice as well, so we appreciate the support on all platforms. With all of that being said, my name is Mr Eric Almighty. That is my co-host, Phil the Filipino, and please don't forget that we release new podcast episodes every Monday and Wednesday with bonus content elsewhere. All you got to do is wait for it.

Speaker 2: 25:11

So I heard you're looking for a go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it Gaming. Wait for it Anime Plus, ultra. Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino yeah, they've got you covered.

Speaker 1: 25:26

And all you got to do is wait for it.

Speaker 2: 25:42

This is the Wait For it podcast.