Bāhubali: The Epic

Nearly four hours long, interval included, 'Bāhubali: The Epic' is S. S. Rajamouli's single-film cut of his two Baahubali movies: 'Baahubali: The Beginning' from 2015 and 'Baahubali 2: The Conclusion' from 2017. Made for the tenth anniversary of the first one, it went out in cinemas around the world on 31 October 2025, with previews in the UK, Ireland and the US two days earlier.

A wounded woman carries a baby across a river and dies getting him to safety. The child is raised by a tribe living at the foot of a huge waterfall and named Shivudu (Prabhas). Once he's grown, he finally climbs it and finds Mahishmati, a kingdom ruled by the brutal Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati), who has kept the princess Devasena (Anushka Shetty) prisoner for years.

Avantika (Tamannaah Bhatia), a rebel sworn to free her, pulls Shivudu into a fight that turns out to be far more personal than he thinks. To explain why, the story goes back decades to two princes raised under the eye of Queen Sivagami (Ramya Krishnan) and the loyal warrior Kattappa (Sathyaraj).

To bring it down to 225 minutes, Rajamouli dropped several songs, trimmed the war with the Kalakeyas and squeezed Shivudu and Avantika's romance into a short montage over his own voiceover. It's in Telugu, with dubbed versions in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam, and cinemas played a teaser for 'Baahubali: The Eternal War', an animated film set in the same world, before it started.

Critics liked it and singled out the battle scenes, though several felt the cut-down romance didn't work. It took over $800,000 in its opening weekend in the US and Canada, and it's now on Netflix.

• Action
• Drama