Ever wondered what the formative years of characters Baahubali and Bhallala Deva were like or who their best friends were? Filmmaker SS Rajamouli promises answers to many such questions as one of India’s biggest motion pictures, Baahubali, is set to be released as graphic novels, games and animated series.
Arka Mediaworks, the makers of the film and character entertainment company Graphic India, has teamed up to take the story beyond the movie.
From the minute I started working on this story, I knew the world of Baahubali could not be encompassed into a film or two, simply because there’s so much more to tell, so many backstories to share. What we managed to showcase in the film was just a chip of the iceberg.SS Rajamouli
The story of Baahubali can run into thousands of pages, according to the director.
Take the story of the character Baahubali, for instance. We have everything that happened in his life, every minute detail from birth to death. In the film, however, what you see is just a few fleeting shots from the time he was a toddler to when he was a 27-year-old.
Using the transmedium (technique of telling a story across multiple platforms with the help of digital technology), he wants to take the remaining story of Baahubali to larger audiences with the expertise of Graphic India.
Rajamouli believes Baahubali will create a larger market for comics in the country.
The global character entertainment industry is worth over $100 billion and countries like Korea, Japan and the US are flourishing in this business. Yet, we, the country with the largest human population, constitute only the smallest piece of this pie.
Instead of looking at India as not being a big comic market, let’s try and understand why there’s no market, and it’s because there are no good comics that can match international standards. A market of over 1 billion people is open for us and waiting to be tapped. Isn’t that a good sign?
How will the comics appeal to the masses, Rajamouli’s core audience?
If Baahubali appealed to the masses, across all types of people and demographics, I don’t see why people won’t like to know more about the world of Baahubali through a different medium, provided they are offered a world-class product. I’m sure they will buy it.
The first comic, Rajamouli says, can be expected in June or July, followed by the animated series closer to the release of the film’s second part.
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