1 of 6 | S. S. Rajamouli, seen after winning the 2023 Critics Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film for “RRR” in Los Angeles, discussed his previous “Baahubali” with UPI. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
The 2022 release of RRR introduced director S.S. Rajamouli to the United States and won an Oscar for the song “Naatu Naatu.” Now, Rajamouli’s previous films arrive in U.S. theaters Friday as Baahubali: The Epic.
The Epic combines 2015’s Baahubali: The Beginning and 2017’s Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Rajamouli said the two-part film paved the way for RRR.
“I was able to make RRR because of Baahubali,” Rajamouli said. “Baahubali is the film that took me from one level to the next level where I could either bring in big superstars or dream big or make action sequences that have bigger budgets.”
In Baahubali, Prabhas stars as Siva, a man who was rescued as an infant when a woman crossed a river holding the baby’s basket above water. Raised by a village tribe, Siva grows up and sets out to rescue Princess Devasana (Anushka Shetty) from the evil King Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati).
During the rescue, the king’s slave general Kattappa (Sathyaraj) recognizes Siva as the son of warrior prince Baahubali, missing since his grandmother rescued him as an infant.
Rajamouli’s epic movies often feature outrageous action, such as RRR’s rescue of a child from a tanker explosion. Baahubali sees Rajamouli exploring action beyond the boundaries of reality, such as an army catapulting troops of soldiers linked by their shields over castle walls.
“I believe action enhances emotion,” Rajamouli said. “The further you take the action, the further the emotion enhances.”
The action in Rajamouli’s films goes beyond even many Hollywood superhero films. Rajamouli said he wants to test the limits of what viewers might accept
“The whole film is a make-believe process,” he said. “I would really like to stretch that to the max.”
Rajamouli’s actors also strike heroic poses amid those action scenes. Arms outstretched and knees bent, their poses are derived from sculptures at temples and dance moves, designed in collaboration with concept artists.
“All the poses convey some kind of emotion,” he said. “We go through a lot of sketches for those poses and I say the best one and drive the scene towards achieving that pose.”
The stars of both Baahubali and RRR also have impressive physiques to rival Hollywood’s 80s action heroes. In the case of Baahubali, Prabhas quite literally represents the hero.
“The meaning of the name Baahubali itself is the strong-armed one, the person who has strong arms,” he said. “The name means that so I had to have a person who has a pretty strong physicality and Prabhas fits the bill perfectly.”
In India, audiences had to wait two years to see the second part of Baahubali. Rajamouli could not afford to film both parts at once, but fortunately, The Beginning was successful enough to allow him to make The Conclusion.
Viewers of The Epic will see both parts, with a 10-minute intermission. However, Rajamouli had to edit out some comedy and romance to fit both parts in under four hours.
If audiences are interested in the complete films, both are available for digital rental and purchase. Rajamouli also hopes interested fans will seek out his 2012 film Eega, told from the point of view of a housefly.
“I always said Eega is my most favorite film by a lot,” Rajamouli said. “It is quite different but the emotions are the same. After the big films, it’s a small film about a housefly.”
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of Baahubali: The Beginning. Rajamouli has spent those years traveling the world with his films and learning about the similarities and differences between world cultures.
Oscar night of March 12, 2023, remains difficult for Rajamouli to summarize.
“It is so many emotions put together, where we started as people, as a family, together and where we could bring our Indian story to that platform, a lot of sacrifices, a lot of stories, a lot of emotions and all of them pouring into that moment,” he said. “I really can’t put that into words.”
Rajamouli is currently in production on SSMB29. Though the film is not due out until 2027, Rajamouli is planning to release a video previewing it soon.
“Once it comes out, I think people will understand what I’m attempting to do,” he said. “It would be much, much bigger than both Baahubali and RRR put together.”
The international success of RRR has also prompted discussion of sequels. Rajamouli would also like to return to the world of Baahubali.
“We just didn’t create the story for these films,” he said. “We have pre-stories, prequels written for the characters themselves, how the kingdom was formed, what is Siva in the beginning, what is Kattappa in the beginning, what happened afterwards?”
Rajamouli would also like to make a movie in Hollywood and has had offers since the release of RRR but he was already committed to SSMB29.
“I can take up only one project at a time,” he said. “I really, really want to do a Hollywood movie. You get a larger scape to tell your film and also it really helps me understand a completely different world style, world culture of a country.”
