This is not the very first time that a Brahmanda film is getting good response in Kerala. Even before Baahubali, the state witnessed this practice during the release of several non-Malayalam movies including that of Tamil director S. Shankar and the past two movies of S.S. Rajamouli, the director of Baahubali. But what made Baahubali special is that along with Rajamouli, there is a group of Malayalis who played key roles in gifting visual as well audio extravaganza to the audience.
Though it was conceived as a Tamil–Telugu bilingual, a Malayali touch can be seen in Baahubali’s art, visual effects and sound sections which are all equally important in this film. Sanath P.C. from Wayanad is the man behind the tremendous visual effects of this period film.
“It was during the pre-production of Rajamouli’s fourth film, Chatrapathi, when the director first approached us as that film demanded a wide use of visual effects. We were called for the pre-visualisation process. Later, we worked with him in his following works and then for Baahubali,” says Sanath.
“In 2012 Rajamouli came with the script of Baahubali for the pre-visualisation process. He used to narrate the script and on the basis of narration we would draw the images which were later converted to a visual format. When he narrated a character, for example, the central character ‘Baahubali’, we asked him several questions in order to track down his mannerisms and his past which would be helpful to design his acting style as well as costumes. In the case of the kingdom — Mahishmati — too, it was the process behind the visualisation. As most people in the writing department spoke Telugu, our discussions were also in that language,” he adds.
Sanath says that pre-visualisation is an important factor in pre-production. “Once the pre-visualisation is done, it can be used as a reference in the production stage,” he says. Along with pre-visualisation, Sanath’s company Fire Fly has played a key role in the visual effects production of the film.
When it comes to the production stage, the production design and art direction of Baahubali were done by two persons hailing from Kerala. While National Award winner Sabu Cyril was the production designer, State Award winner Manu Jagadh was the art director.
“It was through Sabu sir, who was the production designer of the film, that I got a call. He is my guru as I was his assistant till 2005. So one day he called me and said there was a film named Baahubali, which would be a challenging one,” says Manu.
As Baahubali is a period film, it was a challenge to pinpoint the locations as well as the set construction. “We had to use completely new designs to give a feel that the story was taking place during an ancient period. As the film demanded huge sets in each and every scene, it was in a way a new experience for me, as well enjoyable,” says the art director who had bagged the State Award for Malayalam film Calcutta News.
Manu says that the most challenging work for the art department was the war scene. “As we had no references of weapons of that time, it was really challenging while designing as well as making the weapons used for the war scene. Designing of Bhallala Deva’s war chariot was also a hard job,” says Manu.
Then in the post-production stage of Baahubali, around five Keralites collaborated in the sound department. While P.M. Satheesh was the sound designer, Justin Jose from Thrissur was the final mix engineer. Sharath Mohan, Prathibha Krishnamoorthy and Gokul were other Malayali faces in the sound department.
“It was via Satheesh that I got the assignment. We worked for around 750 hours in mix while other films demand around 250-300 hours. This is because finalising the sound for a film which is set in a new locale is not an easy job. It is completely different when compared with a film set in the present. Though it was a risky job, the good response shows that the audiences appreciated the effort,” Justin says.
