South filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli says he is getting a lot of offers from Bollywood post his blockbuster Baahubali: The Beginning and feels there is a possibility he might team up with Karan Johar for a movie.
Baahubali: The Beginning starred Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah and Anushka Shetty in lead roles. The Hindi dubbed version of the Tamil-Telugu historical-fiction drama was presented by Johar.
Rajamouli, currently working on the second instalment of the film, says he cannot take any offer unless the project is complete. “Yes I am getting a lot of film offers from Bollywood but all of them know I won’t be available until Baahubali is complete. I cannot consider any offer as of now. But I would love to direct a Bollywood film someday,” Rajamouli told PTI.
When asked if he will direct a film for Johar’s Dharma Productions, he said, “It is a possibility, right. You never know.”
There were reports that the second instalment, Baahubali: The Conclusion , was getting delayed. The director, however, says the film is on track. “It’s not a ‘sequel’ sequel, it’s a continuation story. It’s on track. We have already started shooting, and have finished two schedules. The last schedule we finished ahead of time, something which never happened before. We are very good with it.”
Rajamouli plans to come up with a third part of the film and make Baahubali a franchise.
“Yes there will be a continuation in the third instalment... There is a big story of Baahubali so it will continue. It is a big franchise and will be there for a long time.”
When asked if there are more films lined up in the franchise and why the upcoming part was titled The Conclusion , the director said, “It is the conclusion of the story what we have started. Only that concludes. The world of Baahubali will continue.”
Baahubali: The Beginning became one of the biggest blockbusters last year, sweeping not only the domestic box office but also overseas market.
Rajamouli says he wanted the film to be huge but did not expect such an overwhelming response by the audience.
“Unless we hope that it becomes so big we won’t be reaching anywhere. We wanted it to be big, imagined it to be huge. Only thing we didn’t imagine is the kind of response that we received so fast. We thought it will slowly grow on people and other states, it will expand but it exploded like a bomb.”
Though he is riding on huge expectations for the upcoming instalment, Rajamouli is unfazed by the pressure. “No, there is no pressure. I don’t take the appreciation of my past work too much in my heart. The past work is done, all the good and bad is over. I never let it weigh on my next project.
“But I know there is a lot of expectation... I keep that in the back of my mind. I’ll not let it affect my work.”
