Written By akashkhan on Thursday, November 6, 2014 | 1:15 PM
Baahubali (English: The One With Strong Arms) is an upcoming two-part Indian epic film, filmed parallel in Telugu and Tamil . The film will also be dubbed in Malayalam, Hindi and in several foreign languages. The film is directed by S. S. Rajamouli and features Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah in the lead roles.[3][4][5] Apart from them, the film features an ensemble cast of Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, Nassar, Adivi Sesh, Tanikella Bharani and Sudeep in crucial roles. The film is produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni under Arka Media Works banner. Director K. Raghavendra Rao is presenting the film. The soundtrack for the film will be composed by M. M. Keeravani. National Award winner Sabu Cyril has been recruited as art director for the film.[6]National Award winner V. Srinivas Mohan is working as the VFX supervisor.[7]
The film is the costliest film produced ever in the history of Telugu cinema and was also one of the few films featured in BBC's documentary on 100 Years of Indian cinema directed by Sanjeev Bhaskar
Casting
Anushka Shetty was recruited as the heroine of the film later who was also a part of Mirchi (2013).[19] She coincidentally became the first heroine Rajamouli repeated in his films and thus made her schedules full for 2013 and 2014 thanks to her simultaneous shoot for Rudhramadevi.[20] She would be seen as Devasena in the film.[21] Rana Daggubati was recruited as the antagonist of the film and he was said to be playing the role of Prabhas' brother and coincidentally he was also a part of Rudhramadevi. He too underwent a lot of physical transformation for the role he was assigned to play in the film.[22] He also underwent training in Martial arts under the supervision of a Vietnamese trainer Tuan.[23] Tamil actor Sathyaraj signed the film,[24] where he will be sporting a Tonsured look.[25] There were reports towards the end of April 2013 that either Sridevi or Sushmita Sen would be selected to play Prabhas' mother in the film which were confirmed as rumors by Rajamouli.[26][27] In the end of May 2013, Rajamouli denied the casting of Sonakshi Sinha as a replacement to Anushka in the Hindi version of the film.[28] In the end of June 2013, Rana Daggubati was injured during rehearsals of action sequences and was taken into a private hospital for treatment.[29] There was news that actress Sruthi Haasan would be portraying the female lead, but Rajamouli denied the news as a rumor and clarified that she was not approached for any role.[30]
Kannada actor Sudeep was selected for a small but important role in the film.[31] He said that he would play the role of a weapons trader in this film.[32] He shot for 4 Days in July 2013 for the film and had to fight with Sathyaraj in a sequence choreographed by Peter Hein.[33] In April 2013, Adivi Sesh was recruited for a crucial role in the film as Rajamouli was impressed by his work in the Panjaa (2011).[34] Actress Ramya Krishnan was chosen to play the crucial role in the film as Rajamatha in August 2013.[35] Actor Nassar was selected to play a supporting role.[35] In the end of October 2013, Rana appeared at a fashion show with a beefed up body which, according to him, was a part of his look in the film.[36] On 11 December 2013, a press release stated that Charandeep is selected for one of the negative characters in the film.[37] On 20 December 2013 a press release stated that Tamannaah will be second heroine of the film which marks her first collaboration with Rajamouli and second collaboration with Prabhas.[3] In the end of December 2013, the reports claiming that Prabhas was injured during the shoot were denied by the production team.[38] In the end of January 2014, Rajamouli rubbished the inclusion of Pawan Kalyan, N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Sunil as baseless rumors.[39] In mid-May 2014, reports emerged that Anushka would be seen as a pregnant woman for a few sequences in the second part of the film.[40]
At the same time, Prabhas posted in his Facebook page that he underwent a minor shoulder surgery a month ago and would join the film's sets in a span of a month which was also confirmed by Rajamouli.[41] In the end of May 2014, Prabhas attended a movie launch ceremony which dispelled the rumors which stated that he was in ICU battling several health issues and injuries.[42] On 1 June 2014, Prabhas and Rana's trainer Lakshman Reddy, who was the winner of 13 titles in India and abroad in bodybuilding, spoke to the media about the secrets behind the looks of Prabhas and Rana. According to him, Prabhas started his training 8 months before the commencement of shooting and after two years, both of them weighed nearly 100 kilos each. He also added that Prabhas would be seen in two attires with a heavy, bulky body for Baahubali's role and a lean physique for the second role. About the food intake, he said "Their daily diet consisted of six to eight meals – all non-vegetarian. No rice was given at all. Meals were eaten every two hours. The total calorie intake would range between 2000 to 4000 calories a day." For reduction of their weight, Reddy said "The process will be the same but you have to limit the food intake, depending on the person’s requirements. It takes four to five months to reduce".[43] For his look, Prabhas met WWE superstars in February 2014 and interacted with them about their daily regimen and workouts.[44]
Impressed with the infrastructure there, Prabhas got the equipment costing INR1.5 crore shipped to his home, where he built a personal gym. His breakfast included 40 half boiled egg whites blended and added with protein powder everyday.[44] In early June 2014, the film's action sequence choreographer Peter Hein revealed about the film's action sequences. He said "Each and every shot has been dealt with studiedly. Since it’s a period film, there are huge requirements that we don’t see in regular movies." For a particular action sequence, Peter Hein had to handle around 2000 stuntmen & elephants.[45] In mid-June 2014, regarding her role in the film, Tamannaah said that she would be playing the role of a warrior princess named Avanthika and her appearance in the film is completely different when compared to her past films.[46][47] Before joining the film's shoot, Tamannaah did costume trials for the film which she confirmed in her micro-blogging page stating "I am very excited to get on to the set of Baahubali. I did some dress trials today and my look in this movie will be totally new. I have never been seen in such sort of a look till now. It will be a new role for me."[48] Impressed by her performance, Rajamouli called her a "value addition" to the movie
Filming
The shooting of the film started at Rock Gardens in Kurnool from 6 July 2013 exactly after a year from the release of Rajamouli's Eega (2012).[12][50][51] In the end of August 2013, the film's shoot continued at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad where key scenes on the lead cast were shot.[52] The second schedule of the film ended on 29 August 2013.[53] A new schedule started at Hyderabad on 17 October 2013.[54] In the end of October 2013, the maize field specifically cultivated at Ramoji Film City for filming of few crucial sequences was destroyed by rains just a week before the start of the planned shoot there.[55] The film's shoot again continued in Kurnool in November 2013 but the schedule ended abruptly due to incessant rains. Despite taking required measures, the film's crew could not control the people and around 30 thousand people reached the spot. After they were pacified by Prabhas and Rana, Rajamouli stood on the center stage and asked all of them to scream Jai Baahubali in sync. The entire incident was captured by the sound department so that it can be used in the film's final cut to create the right ambient sound in some crucial scenes.[56] After that, the film's unit traveled to Kerala for their next schedule.[57] The Kerala schedule started on 14 November 2013.[58]
In the end of November 2013, the film's shoot was disrupted by incessant rains and since the portion of shoot was outdoor, the shoot was temporarily stalled.[59][60] The shoot at Kerala completed on 4 December 2013 in many exotic locales of Kerala including the famous Athirappilly Falls and Rajamouli informed to the media that a huge war sequence would be shot soon at Hyderabad.[61] A set was erected in Ramoji film city to shoot war sequences involving around 2000 junior artists and almost all the principal cast from 23 December 2013 for which groundwork began in October 2013.[62][63] There were reports that the farmers at Anajpur village close to Ramoji Film City tried to disrupt the film's shooting citing that they did not have the required permissions to shoot there which were denied by Rajamouli.[64][65] The film's unit took a two day break on the eve of New Year and the shoot of the sequence resumed from 3 January 2014.[66][67] In mid-January 2014, a massive set was constructed there at Ramoji Film City resembling the city center of the kingdom in which the story unfolds.[68] The film's unit took a break on account of Makar Sankranti and the shoot of war sequences resumed from 16 January 2014.[69] On 18 January 2014, the film completed 100 working days of the film's shoot.[70]
From 28 March 2014, key scenes of the film were shot during the nights at Ramoji Film City.[71] On 5 April 2014, Rajamouli informed that the war schedule came to an end.[72] The film's next schedule started on 20 April 2014 after a brief break.[73][74] The film's unit took a small break in the end of May 2014 after shooting some scenes on Rana Daggubati and Anushka at Ramoji Film City.[75][76] Later Rana took a break from Baahubali's shooting for a couple of months.[77] In the end of May 2014, it was reported that Tamannaah would join the sets in June 2014 and would participate till December 2014.[78] Sudeep returned to the film's sets on 7 June 2014 and participated in the shoot along with Sathyaraj at Golconda Fort to start a fresh schedule which ended on 10 June 2014.[79][80] Rajamouli started re-shoot of some scenes which were originally scheduled for last year whose shoot were disrupted by heavy rains.[81] Tamannaah joined the film's sets in Hyderabad on 23 June 2014.[82] In the end of June 2014, the filming continued at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad. Prabhas, Tamannaah, Anushka and Rana participated in the shooting and important scenes were shot.[83] That schedule ended after four days.[84] At the same time, it was reported that the film's unit would travel to Bulgaria to shoot the sequences in maize fields which were supposed to be shot in the field destroyed due to rains at Hyderabad in October 2013.[85]
A romantic song featuring Prabhas and Tamannaah was shot in a specially erected set in Ramoji Film City in the third week of July 2014 which was choreographed by K. Sivasankar.[86] The song was shot using ropes and trusses which are generally used in the action scenes and the film's director of photography K. K. Senthil Kumar confirmed the same and added that the song is shot with an innovative concept with rich visuals.[87] After its completion, an action sequence was shot at Ramoji Film City under the supervision of Peter Hein.[88] On 10 August 2014 the film was declared as the first Telugu film to have been shot for 200 days.[89][90] A fresh schedule started at Mahabaleshwar on 26 August 2014.[91] The cast and crew had to brave bad weather, including rain, fog and cold weather to complete the scenes.[92] After nearly two weeks, the team wrapped up the schedule and the next schedule began in Ramoji Film City at Hyderabad on 12 September 2014
Music
Rajamouli's brother and his norm composer M. M. Keeravani composed the music for this film. After the break taken by the film's team after completion of war schedule on 5 March 2014, an official statement from the film's team stated that Keeravani is recording two songs from the film right now.[73] Madhan Karky was selected as the lyricist for the Tamil version of the soundtrack.[94] On 2 July 2014, the film's official website published that Keeravani is recording a song at Prasad Studios in Hyderabad which is sung by Deepu
Marketing
A number of short promotional "making of" videos has been released.[13][96][97][98][99][100][101] For releasing all those videos, Arka Media Works had its own channel on YouTube and the team unveiled first look posters and videos featuring the film's lead stars on the occasions of their birthdays.[102] Their last poster released on 20 December 2013 featured Tamannaah which was released to coincide with her birthday on 21 December 2013.[3] The film used an augmented reality application to play the trailer on smart phones and tablets.[103] Madhan Karky, the dialogue writer for the Tamil version, said that his dialogues would be along the lines of yesteryear epic Historical Movies like Manohara (1954) and Nadodi Mannan (1958) and that they would be in chaste Tamil
Distribution
In early July 2014, the film first part's Karnataka and Ceded (Rayalaseema) region distribution rights were sold to a prominent distributor for INR23 crore (US$3.7 million) out of which the Ceded region, which included Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur, Chittoor and Bellary areas, the rights alone fetched INR14 crore (US$2.3 million)[105][106] At the same time, the film's Nizam region theatrical distribution rights were purchased by Dil Raju for an amount of INR25 crore (US$4.1 million). only for the first part.[107][108] Though he did not confirm the price, Dil Raju said in an interview to Deccan Chronicle that he purchased the first part's Nizam region rights and added that he would acquire the rights of the second part also for this region.[109] On 11 August 2014 a press note issued by BlueSky Cinemas, Inc. stated that they acquired the theatrical screening and distribution rights in overseas.[110] Nizam distribution rights were sold out for INR25 crore (US$4.1 million) while overseas rights were sold for INR15 crore (US$2.4 million) which is a record sum.
Directed by S. S. Rajamouli
Produced by K. Raghavendra Rao
(Presenter)
Shobu Yarlagadda
Prasad Devineni
Written by M Rathnam
(Telugu Dialogue)
Madhan Karky
(Tamil Dialogue)
Screenplay by S. S. Rajamouli
Story by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad
Starring Prabhas
Rana Daggubati
Anushka shetty
Tamannah Bhatia
Ramya Krishnan
Sathyaraj
Music by M. M. Keeravani
Cinematography K. K. Senthil Kumar
Edited by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Production company
Arka Media Works
Distributed by Arka Media Works
Release dates 17 April 2015[1]
Country India
Language Telugu Tamil
Budget INR175 crore (US$28 million)
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