BAHUBALI FEVER

BAHUBALI FEVER:

I had a visual treat the last Sunday. I watched the first part, two years back. We had been waiting two long years to watch this magnum opus. Almost all of us in our locality were struck with the ‘Bahubali Fever’.

When people meet, they speak naught but only about “Bahubali”. The way the actors strived hard to bring out the best; costumes of the characters, the settings and the visuals.  

Another thing that illuminated my thinking was the women characters in the movie. All the women are typical Indian women of the past. Right from Sivagami Devi(Ramya Krishnan) to Devasena (Anushka Shetty) to Sanga(Rohini). Defending themselves and being selfless mothers.

After watching, I was reminded of the tri-aspects of the great psychoanalysts:  Jung and Freud. Sigmund Freud has given three qualities. Last Sunday I had a chance to watch the mass movie Bahubali. I found the Freudian tri paths in the characters.

They are id, ego and super-ego. Id is the immediate reaction of the mind and physic to the situation. Ego is the block that helps us to maintain our status. Super-ego is something in between id and ego.

The character Ballaladeva(Rana Daggubatti): He was completely obsessed with the thoughts of taking over Magizhmathi. This passion in him urges him to commit all the sins including the slaying of his own mother, the killing of his brother, and the slaying of all the people of Magizhmathi is id.

The character of Bahubali(Prabhas): Bahubali was initially assigned the office of the king but was deprived of it due to unnecessary reasons. He had a great love for his mother. This love held him back from killing his brother and his uncle. This is Ego. The killing of Dhandanayaga in front of the Durbar is an act of Id. Marrying of Devasena and giving up the regal power is an act of Super-ego. 

The character of Kattappa(Satyaraj): The character Kattappa was a loyal servant to the Royals. The Royals wanted him to kill Bahubali and he went ahead. The guilt in him pushed him to question the Queen at the palace. This shows his super-ego. The slaying of Bahubali is an action of Id. The refusal of giving Bahubali food is an act of Ego.

The three things of Carl Gustav Jung are shadow, persona and anima in a person.

Shadow is the darker side of a person. Persona is the self of a person. Anima is the feminine quality in a man and Animus is the masculine aspect in a women.

The character of Sivagami Devi could be taken for analysis. The shadow of Sivagami is revealed when she orders for the butchering of her son. The persona in her is seen right from the very first scene where she mothers the child of another woman gives Bahubali the kingdom, gives him the priority in almost all the things.

The anima in Bahubali/Shivudu is the feminine imaginative figure that urges him to take a trek to Neermalai. The figure is that of Avantika(Tamanna Bhatia). The mask of Avantika pushes him to climb. It keeps haunting him (revealed by his mother, Sanga). The Anima is achieved when he is made to travel to Magizhmathi. His unaware life-long mission is accomplished only through his anima.

The most appreciable application is that of the ego. The ego can say "nothing can happen to me. The director uses the technique of Willing Suspension of disbelief because nothing can happen to the hero.