5 Telugu Films That Paved the Way for Baahubali

Check out the 5 films without which Baahubali would have remained just a dream

Poster of the movie Baahubali

The much-awaited Friday release Baahubali has been the subject of huge chatter not just down South. It made its way from the Telugu film industry to the distant land of Bollywood aka Mumbai and further up ahead even to Delhi.

And all it took for the movie to become the talk of all these towns is just one VFX laden, eye-popping awesome trailer.

Ever since Bahubali’s first trailer was released about a month ago, cinegoers have been stumped by its larger than life look. Those of you who understand Telugu will know that apart from the kick-ass edit, Baahubali also has some masala dialogues, ‘Rebel Star’ Prabhas’ style which are sure to spice-up your popcorn.

But here’s a little insider information for the audience up North that has been swayed by all the special FX wizardry they’ve seen so far. This is not the first time a Telugu movie took up such a humongous challenge and succeeded. In fact, the industry seems to have been prepping for this moment for a decade now.

So, we bring you five movies that probably were the building blocks to help Baahubali to look like a million bucks.

Ammoru (1995)

Exactly a decade ago almost for the first time, the Telugu audience witnessed some really good visual effects that managed to retain the seriousness of a scene in Kodi Ramakrishna’s Ammoru. Actors Soundarya and Ramya Krishna were great, the cinematography was decent but it’s the visual effects by Christopher Holmes that really made the final product rock solid, by the standards of 1995.

So it is safe to say that Ammoru really drew everyone’s attention towards the importance of visual effects and how it could amplify the magic of storytelling taking the cinematic experience to a whole new level.

Devi (1999)

Not so long after Ammoru, came Kodi Ramakrishna’s Devi. The plot which revolved around snake worship was dramatic – bringing into play angels and evils of another world and how mortals were mere pawns in the big game. While this theme was explored even earlier, filmmakers failed their audience by ruining key aspects of the narrative with tacky graphics.

Devi went a couple of notches above the standard tricks with snakes and explored possibilities both in terms of storytelling and graphics.

Anji (2004)

It was time for another big step but Kodi Ramakrishna was the only one, with some experience, ready to take a giant leap. So once again, Kodi put together a team of 18 VFX professionals to make Anji possible. With a plot involving an ‘Aatmalingam from the Himalayas’, that could give supernatural powers to the one who possessed it, Anji had the dramatic drift the filmmaker was looking for.

It was one of those movies that you knew would be a hit even before it released. For one, it had ‘Mega Star’ Chiranjeevi who was working with the team on its much-talked special effects.

Arundhati (2009)

With Anushka Shetty in the lead and Sonu Sood in a negative role, Arundhati was a revelation. The Telugu industry is not known for making women-centric films, but this was an exception.

Based in the kingdom of Gadwal, the story is a revenge thriller of sorts. And no prizes for guessing who the director is. With the success of Anji, Kodi took his work another step forward with Arundhati. Retaining a significant number of people from the visual effects team of Anji, Kodi breathed life into the complexities of the good vs evil battle in Arundhati.

The stellar performances of the actors notwithstanding, the audience couldn’t take their eyes off the screen thanks to the stunning special FX– many a times, quite subtly.

This time Kodi kept an eye out for cinematography too to do justice to the plot. And that’s where Senthil Kumar’s extraordinary eye for landscapes came into picture. Arundhati was a rage at the box office and won Senthil the Santosham Award for Best Cameraman.

Magadheera (2009)

The year 2009 was remarkable. Apart from Arundhati, the Telugu film industry saw another film that was an absolute visual treat. This time SS Rajamouli of Chhatrapati and Vikramarkudu fame (remade as Akshay Kumar’s Rowdy Rathore in Hindi) decided to take up a VFX heavy subject and Senthil Kumar for his big project.

Starring Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan Teja, Magadheera was tailor-made for the star kid to showcase his talent.

The plot is an epic story of star-crossed lovers who are born again. Protagonist Kala Bhairava reincarnated as Harsha remembers his previous birth and sets out in search of his lady love Mitravinda, now known as Indu.

Enter cinematographer Senthil Kumar who gives us a glimpse of the mythical but celebrated kingdom of Udayghad. Combine that with the visual effects from the crew that was part of the team of Anji and Arundhati, and you had a winner. The film also won the National Award for Best Visual Effects that year.

Rajamouli is now attempting to trump this victory with Baahubali which is set to release on Friday in Hindi and Tamil too. While we still have to wait and watch what the movie will accomplish, but the trailer has certainly set the standards right up there.

Over to team Baahubali now.