• Home
• /
• Newsmakers
• /
• Bollywood

Final Baahubali aims to be bigger: S.S. Rajamouli

Rajamouli has already shot some 40% of Baahubali: The Conclusion but hasn't yet started on the rest because the team took some time off to bask in the success of part one.

S.S. Rajamouli's popularity in Korea was evident Sunday when Baahubali: The Beginning played at the Busan Film Festival's Open Cinema strand where hundreds of Korean fans lined up for the director's autograph and photos armed with the film's posters and DVDs of Eega. Baahubali: The Beginning released in July in India and Indian diaspora territories has grossed a massive $92 million. Rajamouli has already shot some 40% of Baahubali: The Conclusion but hasn't yet started on the rest because the team took some time off to bask in the success of part one. The sequel will commence shooting at the end of November. Consequently, the release which was scheduled for next summer has been pushed back to the end of 2016.
The final 35 minutes of Baahubali: The Beginning features an epic war scene that has had audiences returning to the cinemas multiple times. Expectations are therefore huge for the sequel. "We realise that the commercial success of part one predominantly came from the visual effects and the war. And I know people will be expecting more from the second part. They will not be dissatisfied," says Rajamouli. "It will be much bigger." The Baahubali films were together budgeted at $40 million, but now, to accommodate the grander scale, the budget may go up to $50 million.
The Baahubali saga is about brothers in medieval India in conflict over a rich kingdom and is rich in imagery, battles and skulduggery. It stars Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannah, among others. The first part ended in a cliffhanger. Rajamouli says that the first part was merely an introduction to the story proper that will unfold in the conclusion. He is however not relying just on grandeur and visual effects. "We are banking on emotion, the sequel is much more emotional than part one," says Rajamouli. "The way the characters behave in part two will be entirely different. The characters are the same, but the characterisations will be different."