Right after the blockbuster success of Baahubali: The Beginning in 2015, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali had reportedly offered Telugu star Prabhas the role of Maharawal Ratan Singh in his ambitious period film Padmaavat originally titled Padmavati. While Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh were already cast for the role of Rani Padmavati and Aladdin Khilji respectively, the makers were still zeroing in on an actor for Ratan Singh’s role.
Sanjay Bhansali was apparently mighty impressed with Prabhas’ persona and performance as the mighty Baahubali and immediately decided that the Telugu actor would be the best choice to play the noble and brave Maharawal Ratan Singh. The huge success of Baahubali also acted in favour of Prabhas for the role, as Bhansali felt he would have an actor who had a pan Indian presence.
Prabhas meanwhile was working on Baahubali 2 and was reportedly open to working with a filmmaker of the stature of Bhansali. However, according to a source close to the project, once Prabhas heard the narration and the scope of his role, he reportedly did not want to sign the Bhansali dream project. Prabhas’ reasoning could have been that since Raja Ratan Singh didn’t have a meaty role in Padmaavat, all the hard work and image that he had worked for having invested 5 years in the Baahubali films would have lost its impact. He was looking for nothing less than a central role at par with that of Deepika Padukone.
As we now know, after Prabhas, actor Shahid Kapoor was approached for the role and the Shahid who was just recovering from the Shandaar debacle was happy to come on board the prestigious project.
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