Social media has been abuzz with superlative reactions to the trailer of director S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali . The project, which has been in the making for over two years, will release on July 10, much to the delight of his impatient fans who trended #wewantbaahubalitrailer on twitter.
Rajamouli says, “I am very happy with the tag that I have now, whatever it may be. After my second film Simhadri , which was a very big hit, I made Sye , a small college movie with a rugby union backdrop. After the blockbuster Magadheera , I made a film with comedian Sunil as the hero. If I am interested in making a film — big or small — I will go ahead and make it.”
“I was very happy when I was doing my first two films, Student No.1 , Simhadri, ” Rajamouli says. “I had absolutely no doubts — I would just place my camera at one point and say that is the right way. But now, I am afraid to place even a close-up. I keep thinking – ‘how close should it be?’ because now I know that each and every shot and angle has a different meaning and effect. As I learn more, I get more confused.” But the one thing he is sure of is the shared responsibility of story and technique to make a great film. “You can’t have only one and make a great film.”
“I am a filmmaker,” Rajamouli says. “My job is to make films. When something excites you— a story or characterisation — you immediately forget about everything else. You only think how to make a movie out of it. The economics come only later. You shouldn’t let money dictate the kind of films you should make.” Take the example of Manoj Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable . It opens with a train accident, which by itself means a lot of money. Instead, Shyamalan just shows a small boy and the hero talking to each other. At the end of the conversation, there is a huge shake of the camera and a blackout. We learn about the train accident through a shot of the news playing on television. If you don’t have a budget, think intelligently like Shyamalan.”
After Magadheera , which became the highest-grossing Telugu film of all time, Rajamouli continued to court risks with Eega ( Naan Ee, Makkhi ), which had a housefly as its protagonist. “You have a big star, a standard story with six songs and four fights — can you guarantee that the film will make money? No. So, I might as well take that risk on a story that I like,” he says. The risk paid off. Eega joined the Rs. 100-crore club.
Of the mythic fiction genre that he ventured into with Magadheera and now Baahubali , he is only surprised that filmmakers haven’t explored the genre before. “I don’t see it as a risk. It’s an opportunity. When everyone sells bananas, I sell oranges instead. People would want to eat something else. I would feel insecure only if more people began to make period films.”
Baahubali, starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah, will release in two parts, and simultaneously in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam. “With Baahubali, we knew we had fantastic content that was universal in scale and emotions.” And after Makkhi ’s average run in theatres, Rajamouli has now collaborated with Karan Johar, who will present the Hindi version of Baahubali .
“I felt Makkhi was not presented well even though it had a great run on satellite TV. Considering the movie had done well in other parts of the country, I felt it odd that it didn’t do well in Hindi. I realised that it is not just enough to have good content. Unless it is presented well, the audience won’t come.” Rana Daggubati showed some of the footage to Karan Johar, which got him excited enough to come on board to present the film in the Bollywood market. “We are very happy because that was the one missing link.”
