We see the bad, we see the ridiculous, and then we see “Bimbisara.” It was just when we started appreciating Telugu and Tamil cinema for expanding their horizons by venturing into mythological fantasy fiction, expanding the scope of CGI and VFX, then along comes a film that hurts your sensibilities. “Bimbisara” was released on the big screen on August 5, 2022, and has been streaming on Zee5 since October 21, 2022. The film is directed by Mallidi Vashishta and is about the clash of an evil king with an evil entrepreneur. Here we are to explain to you in detail the ending of the film.
What Happens In The ‘Bimbisara’ Film?
The film begins with a scene of a man and his companion, in 500 B.C., being chased away by a group of men through the forest. The name of the character is not revealed at this point, but by the looks of it, he is being chased by the wrong guys for doing something right. The chasers are finally sucked into plenty of magic mirrors, and before the magic mirror pulls him in, he breaks it, which brings out a monster who claims to have been stuck in the mirror for centuries. He thanks the “King” for breaking him away from the curse and gives him an enchanted mirror. Centuries later, in the year 1970, a child named Subramanyam Sastri, along with his rich father and a Tantrik named Kethu, visit an ancient site to gather some ancient herbs, only to be stopped by the guardians of the location. They kill all the guardians to get access to the door. Subramanyam’s father touches the entrance and is instantly killed by the powers attached to it. To Subramanyam’s horror, he has to grow up without a father figure and understand why his father was killed.
The story again goes back to 500 B.C. when Emperor Bimbisara of the Trigartala Kingdom takes over the throne after his father’s demise. He ends up becoming a ruthless ruler who is on an expansion spree and kills people who slightly go against his ideas or plans. King Bimbisara here is a power-hungry individual whose ego is fueled by the fact that he is the ruler of this huge kingdom and believes he can do anything and get away with it. He soon sends a message to a neighboring kingdom, demanding them to surrender to King Bimbisara. If it is rejected, the king and army will befall their kingdom to destroy it.
The princess of the said kingdom refuses to bow down to King Bimbisara’s offers and sends the messenger back. In return, Bimbisara attacks their kingdom as promised, captures the king, kills him and imprisons the princess, and conveys the news of her marriage to him. On the other hand, a small commune of healers treats soldiers of the enemy camp, which angers King Bimbisara. Bimbisara himself heads to the village to confront them about the intentions of the work. Pushed by the ego he carries with himself, Bimbisara questions the commune leader about his work and, in anger, starts burning the village and the surrounding areas. The commune leader, a secret keeper of the sacred Dhanwantri texts, is seen to be saving the book from fire. He makes sure it is not destroyed. King Bimbisara forcefully takes away these texts, only to be confronted by a small girl. That girl happens to be the granddaughter of the commune leader. She mentions to the king the existence of God to vanquish devils like Bimbisara. Bimbisara further questions her, and she says the lighting of the lamp will bring back her God and help her vanquish evil. In a fit of rage, Bimbisara kills the girl, only to be cursed by her grandfather whose last words were Bimbisara and his kingdom will vanquish. At this point, King Bimbisara is drunk on power and is unable to see anything but the power he has as a king. He is unable to handle it but is a fierce warrior on the battlefield.
Subramanyam Sastri is now a successful practicing surgeon, but he is not satisfied with this success so far, for he wants to get his hands on the texts that will make Subramanyam rich and powerful. He seeks the help of the same Tantrik to know where the texts are. What the Tantrik sees is the life of King Bimbisara as a ruthless leader. After claiming the victory of the commune, Bimbisara is unstoppable. He sends away his treasure, which includes the Dhanwantri texts, to the cave, which is sealed by him and him only. Anyone other than him who tries to access the cave will be killed immediately, just like Subramanyam Sastri’s father.
Bimbisara is gifted a mirror, which he is told not to touch. He is impressed to see this gift and moves it to his chambers. He is confronted by his twin brother, Devadatta, who says that he had gifted him the enchanted mirror, and he is now back in his kingdom to get what is his—the throne. As the fight between the brothers ensues, Bimbisara is kicked toward the mirror, which doesn’t break, and King Bimbisara goes through several dimensions and time to reach his state in the year 2022. At the same time, Kethu informs Subramanyam Sastri of the arrival of King Bimbisara, and they will now have to hunt him down from the city to use him to gain access to the ancient cave that shelters the Dhanwantri texts. King Bimbisara is extremely powerful by this time, and he isn’t afraid of anything because he believes nothing can vanquish him. Devdatta, on the other hand, is the kinder one who wants to do the right thing by getting rid of his evil twin brother. As the sibling’s fight, we get to see who is more powerful, but by the end, Devadatta takes advantage of Bimbisara’s position and throws him through the mirror. Devadatta is the smarter one here.
‘Bimbisara’ Ending Explained: Does Bimbisara Get His Hand Over The Dhanwantri?
King Bimbisara lands in the year 2022 through the enchanted mirror and is shocked to see the progress his people have made. He makes sure everyone recognizes him, but no one does. Everyone believes him to be some actor dressed up as a king. Meanwhile, Subramanyam Sastri hires a private detective to locate King Bimbisara and get him back to them. Bimbisara, meanwhile, is going around the city trying to understand what is happening to him and his life. He soon runs into a police officer who believes he can join the force by looking at his strength. She ends up taking Bimbisara to an event where he comes across a rich philanthropist/businessman who says he is a descendant of the great King Bimbisara, who did great work for the upliftment of the people in his kingdom. The businessman Vishwanandan Varma makes clear that he is here to carry forward the legacy of his ancestor, the king. Bimbisara is moved by his words and realizes Varma was not speaking about him but about his brother, Devadatta. Bimbisara is moved to see that his brother did not try to erase him but rather elevate his legacy.
Bimbisara follows Varma to the college he is about to start, only to find him revealing a statue in honor of King Bimbisara; at the same moment, Bimbisara is saved by a young girl from being crushed under a large stone. To Bimbisara’s surprise, the girl looks eerily like the girl he killed in his kingdom and is the granddaughter of Varma, making her Bimbisara’s descendant too. Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, with Varma’s permission, he starts hanging out with the girl and providing her with support in times of need. Bimbisara soon becomes the talk of the family, and he loves it, too, for he knows they are his family. Bimbisara soon starts to understand how he neglected his kingly duties towards his family and focused on gaining power over gaining trust of the people. Bimbisara starts thanking his brother for doing the right thing by taking control of the kingdom to take care of his people, the citizens. Soon, Subramanyam Sastri catches up with him to take control of the Dhanwantri texts. He kidnaps Bimbisara’s family and injects a deadly virus into the girl’s body as a way to blackmail Bimbisara to get his deed done. As Bimbisara is told, the cure for the poison in the young girl’s body is mentioned in the Dhanwantri text, and he can save her only if he can retrieve it. To all their horror, Bimbisara is unable to get through the gate. Bimbisara is now wrecked with guilt because he doesn’t want the girl to die because of him for his hand is already stained with murder if a young girl which he committed back in his kingdom.
Bimbisara decides to go back in time through the enchanted mirror, where he comes across a ritual going on to open the cave so that Devadatta can access it to use the money to save his kingdom from famine and destruction. Bimbisara is happy to see what his brother is doing for the people. The rituals warn both brothers of severe consequences on their health, but they go ahead with it. As the rituals come to an end, Bimbisara gets hold of the Dhanwantri texts, hands them to his brother, and heads back to 2022 to free his family. Subramanyam Sastri does not see the texts and confronts him. Bimbisara and Sastri get into a fight, and they end up killing one another, but not before Bimbisara saves the girl. The only goal Bimbisara had was to save the girl. He was happy to see his family and the legacy his brother left behind to cherish. Bimbisara dies knowing he did the right thing by not giving away the Dhanwantri texts and knowing his people will be in safe hands now that Devadatta is the ruler of the Trigartala Kingdom. In the end, Bimbisara’s character goes through redemption because he spent a lot of time correcting the mistakes he made as a king.
Final Thoughts
“Bimbisara” is tone-deaf, badly written, a poor man’s version of the Bahubali series, but it comes nowhere close to that. The screenplay is lazy, and the camerawork is equally lazy as well. The cameraman used a lot of shots that were used in the Bahubali films. This is a sign of bad direction gone worse. “Bimbisara” asks you to enjoy the movie but that part where we could enjoy the film never came. The VFX, CGI, and female characters are just poorly written and executed. “Bimbisara” somehow works despite all these major drawbacks. There is the masala factor this film brings. Cheesy dialogues, clichéd romantic songs and unnecessary item songs, bad humor, and cliched storytelling, all these sum up the film.
“Bimbisara” is now streaming on Zee5 with subtitles.
