Something amazing happened at box office during the past two weeks : a South Indian film made it in the top ten! It's the sequel to BAAHUBALI : THE BEGINNING, called, well, BAAHUBALI 2 : THE CONCLUSION. The first film was released 2 years ago and the trailer (above) is quite amazing and it contains almost every type of cliche found in PEPLUM films. I love it! Now the sequel (the conclusion to the story) is a hit in North America. It even outperformed Tom Hanks' latest film, with a fraction of cinemas.
Indian films and the world of PEPLUM cinema have a long history. Back in the 1960s, when the genre was hot, even India made films inspired by the myth of Hercules or Samson, starring the legendary wrestler Dara Singh.
Note : don't call these 'Bollywood' films.
A scene from BAAHUBALI : THE BEGINNING (2015)
Most interesting trailer.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you object to the use of the term "Bollywood?"
It is still in wide usage even though Bombay was renamed Mumbai many years ago.
I don't have any problems using Bollywood but Bollywood (or Mumbai) is in the north. This is a South Indian production. Tamil. They don't like to be called Bollywood.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for your excellent explanation.
ReplyDeleteThe language diversity of India means that there are serious movie industries no only in the south (Tamil) but also in Bengal (Bengali).
I really like the films starring Dara Singh. Although produced on usually minescule budgets, mainly because Singh with his caste could never reach the top tier productions of Indian film industry, his movies are always colorful and ambitious, and he's got great charisma.
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