(theme music)
(footsteps)
Shush! It's the Prince!
We must be careful not to offend him.
No need to worry.
He's nothing like the rest of them. You'll see.
(footsteps)
(tea pouring)
Prince Baahubali, my heart is whole again upon seeing you.
Here, my prince.
Come rest in the shade and have some chai.
Thank you, my friends. It is good to be back home.
How I've missed Mahishmati's food!
(girl giggles)
(tipcat knocks)
(giggling continues)
Look, it's Baahubali. (giggles)
Play with us! Play! Play!
Play with us, please! Come on!
I wish I could. I really do.
But there's business back at the palace that can't wait.
Well, I suppose it could wait for a little while.
Yay! He's on my team.
(epic music)
(tipcat knocks)
-(crowd cheering) -Wow!
-(man grunts) -(tire screeches)
(bullock bellows)
Move, you lazy beast! (grunts)
-(rousing music) -(swords clash)
-(thud) -What are you waiting for?
Fight!
(footsteps approaching)
-(swords clash) -(thud)
(Bhallaladeva grunts)
(thud)
My brother plays rough.
But rough lessons are longest remembered, eh, brother?
Where have you been?
Enjoying time with our people. I was at the market.
After all, I am seeing them again after so long.
They fear us, Baahu. As they should.
Don't let their fake smiles convince you otherwise.
You really should try playing a game with those kids, Bhalla.
Then you'll know they fear nothing.
Not even you, brother.
But their laughter made me remember they're still out there.
-Who? -(footsteps)
Those whose childhood was taken by the Demon Lord.
Watching some of our children playing and laughing reminded me of--
Forget them unless you want all of us to end up as slaves.
-(footsteps) -I need you focused on the training.
We're left with old men and boys.
And in case you've forgotten, we face Katappa.
Every drill we train in, he taught us.
Every formation we use, comes from him.
He knows us better than we know ourselves.
When we charge against him, we... (snaps)
...break!
-He's like that bullock over there! -(whipping)
Immovable.
-(buzzes) -Perhaps there's a way to get
the bullock to move without using strength.
The Vajra formation.
That's all we have. We just need to make it stronger.
(Baahubali) Katappa mastered that formation.
(buzzes)
He knows how to break it, no matter how strong we try and make it.
-(bullock snorts) -Moving this bullock
-requires brains, not brawn. -(thud)
Have the men form up in the Vajra formation.
-I have an idea. -(footsteps fading)
Captain, the Vajra formation!
(captain) Aye! Soldiers, the Vajra formation!
(dramatic music)
(crickets chirping)
That's a big sack for such an old man.
Old? Who's calling me...
Oh, it's you.
Well, make yourself useful.
And hurry up. I'm starving.
Oh!
My prince! See, he has not forgotten us.
Forgotten you?
How could I forget you after all that we have shared together?
Our children, my prince. Have you found them?
Every night I pray for them,
and here you are!
You must have news. Will we have them back soon?
I...
There have been duties to the kingdom.
I...
No, no word yet.
Of course.
You are a prince. You have far more important things to be dealing with.
I am sorry.
I will speak to my mother again. I will try--
Try?
You promised us! Gave us your word to help.
Did you forget all the months we shared our food with you,
cleaned the blood from your wounds, protected each other in the camps?
In return, you give us--
You are talking to a prince!
He was more honest when he was a slave, like us.
Now this prince feasts every day and sleeps in a palace.
Where are his promises now?
His promises are gone like dust in the wind.
(footsteps fading)
-Come, all of you. Let's eat. -(footsteps)
(fire crackling)
Well, if you're not going to eat it, give it to me.
A prince's first duty is to the throne.
Either I look for the children...
or protect Mahishmati.
If you say so.
What would you have me do?
I'm just a peasant descended from a generation of peasants.
I wouldn't dare advise a prince on what he should and should not do.
But there was a slave I knew,
who lived beside me all those long months in the mines.
He threw himself between me and danger countless times.
To that man, I might have a few words to share.
Oh?
And what would those words of wisdom be, I wonder.
First, I'd remind the young rascal
to respect his elders.
Then I'd tell him a throne is just a piece of furniture.
It doesn't care about anything.
These people who live in this refugee town
staked their lives, their hopes on the promises you made.
What are their lives even worth without their children,
the very source of their joy?
They tell me finding the children is impossible.
Impossible? Is that so?
Now pass me my blanket.
My old bones feel the cold.
Now, go. Do the impossible.
After all, isn't that what you do best?
(uplifting music)
What do you mean he's gone? Gone where?
The prince was seen visiting the refugee town last night.
He did not return, so I sent men to find him.
(soldier) They were told he has gone...
looking for the lost children.
Children, children, children!
Does he not care for his responsibilities here?
We could be under siege any moment--
How far away is the Demon Lord's Black Legion?
Four days.
We've destroyed the bridges across the rivers, as you instructed.
It will delay them.
Not long enough.
If only the rivers would rise up and drown
both this Demon Lord and that traitor!
Are the men ready?
What is your command, Maa?
The destruction of our enemies. All of them.
I shall lay Katappa's head at your feet.
(tense music)
(birds chirping)
(footsteps approaching)
Hear that? Someone's coming.
Get ready.
I hope he's got something to eat.
We'll get it all.
Starting with the fool whistling like that.
-(man whistling) -Where does he think he is?
-Maybe he's got gold. -(whistling continues)
It'll be nice to sleep under a roof instead of out here.
Away from the wild beasts, especially the mosquitoes.
Shush. Hear that?
I don't hear anything.
-The whistling stopped. -(suspenseful music)
Your complaining scared him off.
-Spread out! We need to find-- -(man screams)
(thud)
(epic music)
(thud)
(Baahubali laughs)
(man yelps)
(thud)
(spear swishes)
(cracks)
(thud)
Always nice to meet fellow travellers on the road.
(spear swishes)
(Baahubali) I was getting bored with my own company.
Have mercy on us, my lord!
We're just poor farmers fallen on hard times!
I have a family of ten waiting for me.
Starving they are, all my little piglets.
So tragic, I'm sure. (tsks)
Such honest men as yourselves
forced to rob innocent folk.
Now's your chance to make amends.
Anything, lord. Anything.
You deal in the black market
where they trade in stolen goods and stolen... people.
Now I'm looking for children.
The Demon Lord must sell them somewhere.
No, my lord. I swear it.
The Demon Lord doesn't sell the children.
What does he do with them?
He takes them out into the deep desert.
Beyond the Salt Flats.
They never come back.
Where exactly?
I will draw you a detailed map.
Find honest work, boys. This life doesn't suit you.
Next time, it will be the executioner's sword.
(thud)
Honest work! We swear it!
(footsteps fading)
(groans) I've had enough.
I'm off. (groans)
They're building a new fortress to the north.
There'll be work for me.
I'll join you.
It'll be good to have a bed to sleep in for a change.
You cowards!
The next fellow along here will be a fat, rich merchant!
We'll be swimming in gold!
Properly cooked meals every day.
I can practically taste them.
(burly robber) I'll use my talents to fashion doors for the fortress.
-Every fortress needs doors, right? -Wait for me! Wait!
(vultures screaming)
(footsteps)
(screaming continues)
-Where were you headed? -(vultures screaming)
(ominous music)
(screeches)
(gulps)
(animal growls)
(dramatic music)
(lion growls)
Thirsty?
Come on, then.
(slurps)
(soft music)
(footsteps)
(pants)
(eerie music)
(swords swishing)
(footsteps)
(wolfmasks marching)
(arrow swishes)
(rubble scrapes)
(footsteps)
(man snores)
(Baahubali) Ah! Smells good.
Tastes better.
Give the master a bowl.
(Baahubali gulps)
(Baahubali) Wolves? Is that because you're always hungry?
Because, like the wolves in the forest,
we're the fiercest warriors in all of the Black Legion.
Isn't that right?
(warriors howl)
See? Wolves have no fear.
The Demon Lord sends us against the fiercest of his enemies,
and we eat them all up!
(Baahubali) Surprised you have any room
if you are fed like this every day.
It is strange having a full belly.
Our parents barely had...
Forget parents.
We're no longer their helpless lambs.
We belong to a pack now.
The pack looks after itself, hunts together, feeds together.
Now we never need to go hungry.
I like the food.
-It's just that I miss my mom. -(emotional music)
She used to sing to me at bedtime whenever I got scared.
Your mother's singing will not keep you warm or your belly full.
The Demon Lord provides for us.
Soon, you'll wear a wolf mask
and then everyone will be afraid of you.
How can you be scared
when you're the scariest thing out there?
I... I suppose.
(whistle blows)
That's us. We're due on the assault course.
See if we can make a better time than we did yesterday.
Tidy up.
Yes, Bhairav.
(footsteps fading)
(Baahubali) Do you miss your family?
A little...
(Baahubali) How did you end up here, son?
The Black Legion attacked our village.
They took us away from our parents.
I cried, but they wouldn't let me go to them.
The other boys, the ones with masks, said I'd forget them soon enough,
but it's been months and I still miss them. (sobs)
I don't want to be a wolf.
(sobbing)
I want to go home.
(Baahubali) What about the others? How do they feel?
They say they're happy...
but if you walk around the tents at night, you can hear them crying.
But in the morning they pretend it wasn't them.
(Baahubali) Is this yours?
Yes, lord. Why?
(Baahubali) Let's get you home.
Be ready.
(footsteps fading)
(crickets chirping)
(owl hoots)
(gasps)
You? You came back.
Let's get you home.
We need to tell everyone what is happening here.
-Do you promise to take me home? -I do.
I'll take them all home, but let's start with you.
Come on.
(boy) But they won't give us permission to leave.
(Baahubali) And that is why we're not asking.
(footsteps approaching)
(suspenseful music)
(guard) Who goes there?
(Baahubali) At ease, soldier.
Anything to report?
(guard) No, sir.
All quiet. As usual.
Who, but madmen, would try crossing the Salt Flats?
(Baahubali) I am sure you are right, but we should always be vigilant.
Why don't you check those dunes there?
I will stand guard until you return.
(guard) As you command, sir.
(footsteps fading)
(Baahubali) You can come out now.
(footsteps)
People obey you, just like the Demon Lord.
(thud)
What do you know about him?
I only know what Bhairav told me.
He's our pack leader.
-(tools hitting, scraping) -Bhairav says he was sold
to a farmer when he was small.
His parents had too many mouths to feed.
It's a story I've heard from a lot of the other wolves.
The man who owned him was greedy and cruel.
He made the children work
-until they dropped... -(landlord cackles)
...and fed them barely enough to make it through the next day.
Then Raktadeva came.
Raktadeva?
The Demon Lord's true name.
Not many know it, but Bhairav told me.
Raktadeva asked to buy the children. All of them.
-But the man said a drifter like him... -(landlord laughs)
...didn't have the gold for even one child,
let alone the dozens he owned.
But Raktadeva wasn't offering gold.
-(laughing continues) -He was offering steel.
He couldn't refuse the offer.
-(sword swishes) -(children whimper)
(dark music)
Raktadeva was the leader of a ragtag bunch of mercenaries.
-(gulps) -But that day,
in the field, he started his army.
That's how Bhairav tells it.
Raktadeva hates those who enslave children.
He wants to offer us a better life than we have,
but I was happy where I was.
I just want to go back home.
So, the Demon Lord thinks he's doing good?
But why take children from their own families?
He thinks if those families
aren't strong enough to protect their children,
they don't deserve them.
There's more to it than that.
Trained so young, he can mould them into perfect warriors.
Dedicated to him alone.
But the sacrifice is too great.
Without your family, without love, what sort of person--
(army howling)
They've realised I'm missing! They're coming for us!
(eerie music)
(army howling)
Quickly! We need to move.
(Baahubali) The wolves are on their hunt.
(dramatic music)