S.S. Rajamouli, director of the blockbusters, Bahubali 1 and Bahubali 2, said on Friday that the character of Karna in the Mahabharata appealed to him the most.
Interacting with students of Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Mr. Rajamouli said that he liked the way the character of Karna had been written in the Mahabharata. “I have read Karna hundreds of times. Every time, his character brings tears to my eyes and gives me goosebumps,” he said.
To a question on his fascination for mythology, he said that he had grown up reading Amar Chitra Katha comics, Balaramayana and short books on kings available in Telugu. Later, he progressed to reading detective stories. It was the fantasy which was in mythology which attracted him the most. “Mythology is in my blood,” he said.
To a question, Mr. Rajamouli said that he used to read Indrajal comics which had characters such as Phantom, Mandrake and Bahadur. In one of the stories of Bahadur, there was a scene of trees being bent to jump into a building to loot. “I used that idea in Bahubali,” he said.
To another query, he said that he does not know whether he was a good director or not. “But I am a fantastic story teller. I narrate the character in the best way to my actors. They get interested in it. I choose the time I narrate the character. I also ask them how the character would react to a particular situation,” he said.
Asked which was important — screenplay or cinematography? Mr. Rajamouli said that everything was important in a film. But story and screenplay were more important than cinematography. In terms of importance, it was 80 % to story and screenplay and 20 % to cinematography, he said.
To a query, he said that at this point of his career, he could decide which actor was best suited to play a role in the story of the film. In the last few years, he chose the story first and then decided upon the actors, he said. His advice to the students was that hard work and intelligence were the ingredients for success.
G.K. Prabhu, Director, MIT, welcomed the gathering.
