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As of Now We Don’t Have Plans to Make ‘Baahubali 3’: SS Rajamouli

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli and producer Shobu Yarlagadda open up about the success of ‘Baahubali 2’ and what next.

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The visionaries behind the mega-successful Baahubali films, producer Shobu Yarlagadda and filmmaker SS Rajamouli are back after taking a well deserved break. The two were in London along with Anushka Shetty in the first week of May to promote the screening of Baahubali: The Conclusion at the British Film Institute (BFI).

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli and producer Shobu Yarlagadda open up about the success of ‘Baahubali 2’ and what next.
Shobu Yarlagadda and Anushka Shetty with SS Rajamouli in London. (Photo courtesy: Twitter)

After their return to India, I spoke to Rajamouli and Shobu about their film’s huge success, the bouquets and brickbats they’ve received and of course the big question - what next?

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Q: Rajamouli, you switched off from the Baahubali promotions after your London trip. What was the break finally like?

SS Rajamouli: The switching off from the promotions was a conscious effort after promoting the film as much as possible until the release of the film and after-promotions usually don’t work out. If someone is promoting the film after the release then that means the film is not doing well. Yes, I am much more relaxed now, much more happy, obviously after seeing the result too.

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Q: I want to ask both of you, you must have got millions of messages congratulating you on the film, but which was the one message that stands out in your mind?

SS Rajamouli: For me, we were watching the preview of the film in Bombay, a few of us at midnight. We were unsure about how the film was looking because it was just a few of us, there no audience reaction, the sound was very low and I was a little bit worried.

At the end of the film, Mr Venkat, my producer’s brother, he came and stood behind me and just held my hand. He was shivering, there were tears in his eyes, his face was flushed. He didn’t utter a single word but that meant a lot to me. That was the best compliment that no words can ever give.

Shobu Yarlagadda: There are lots of compliments but the best would be that it brought India together. Entire India came together to watch the film. Whether it is in India or abroad, everyone from India across states came together and watched it.

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Filmmaker SS Rajamouli and producer Shobu Yarlagadda open up about the success of ‘Baahubali 2’ and what next.
SS Rajamouli with Shobu Yarlagadda and Anushka Shetty in London. (Photo courtesy: Facebook)

Q: In your tweets in 2015, you had said that there will be a Baahubali 3. After the success of the two films, it must be tempting to plan a third film and since it is in the period-fantasy zone, the possibilities of taking the characters into another adventure is always there. So there is no reason why we should not see Baahubali entering another adventure, right?

SS Rajamouli: Actually, we didn’t want to reveal all our plans at that time, what we meant was that the world of Baahubali will continue. At that time we had an idea but didn’t have a complete understanding about how it is going to continue but we knew it would. So because I couldn’t give all the details, I meant that there will be a part three but not as a film format. Now you can see that virtual reality is going to come, the novel is already out, the novel will be turned into a TV series, now we have an animation series coming out, we have graphic novels coming out so all this is a continuation of Baahubali.

Now, talking about the film itself continuing, we didn’t want to just extend the story because we have some market. Of course the money is tempting but we didn’t want to do that. We started a story and we concluded it but who knows, down the timeline if my father comes up with an exciting story line that needs to be told, probably. But as of now we don’t have any plans.
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Q: After two big budget films, the norm is that a filmmaker usually prefers to do a film that is much smaller in scale, more intimate and personal. Is that what you think you would prefer to do as your next? A smaller film on a much smaller scale?

SS Rajamouli: Last four five films, I have been doing films based on the story. Which ever story excites me, I am doing it. After Magadheera, I found a lovely story called Maryada Ramanna, which is a small setting and I wanted to do it, I did it. Then I found an exciting experimental story like Eega, I did it, then I found an exciting story like Baahubali I did it. The story is driving me, it’s not the bigness or smallness or compactness or the genre, nothing. I am not fixed to anything. It is just the story line. Whichever excites me, I’ll do it.

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Q: You received some amount of criticism for the portrayal of Avantika's romance in the first part of Baahubali - the disrobing and the taming of the princess. How do you react to that criticism? And did you consider that while writing the character of Devasena in the sequel, making her a much more powerful and strong woman?

SS Rajamouli: Because the entire story was written in the beginning itself, it is not technically a sequel. It is one story. And the character of Avantika is written like this, the character of Devasena is written like this. I enjoyed shaping both the characters. I enjoyed each and every thing of designing and shooting both the characters.

I think of Avantika’s sequence as a piece of beautiful art. And if some people think of it in some other way, that is up to them. It doesn’t affect me in any way. I like to do the films in the way that I like to do.

So in the future if I find one more character in the same way, in the same beautiful way that I have depicted then I will depict it in the same way. Those kind of criticisms never deter me from making what I want to make.

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Filmmaker SS Rajamouli and producer Shobu Yarlagadda open up about the success of ‘Baahubali 2’ and what next.
SS Rajamouli with Nasser on the sets of Baahubali 2. (Photo courtesy: Facebook)

Q: Baahubali: The Lost Legends which streams on Amazon Prime Video is an extension of the characters that you have created with the Baahubali series. How much creative control are you exerting over this animation series?

SS Rajamouli: The basic characterisations were written during the film’s story itself. To clearly etch the characters we have written not just the characters in the film but the back stories of each and every character. In that process we created some interesting incidents and emotions. So these stories we wanted to tell to the people, obviously we can’t push everything into the film, the film has certain length limitations. When we looked at different platforms and this Lost Legends particularly, is the formative years of Baahubali and Bhalaldeva. Basic characterisations, the basic lines, the character arc, story arc, everything is developed by me and all the detailing is done by Graphic India and their story team. Everything passes through me, they tell me the story, they show me the animated boards, they show me the final animation and finally it goes out.

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Q: Shobu, as a producer, keeping control of the copyright and merchandising of something like Baahubali is a tough task in India. Anyone can print a Baahubali logo and put a photo of Prabhas and start selling t-shirts, bags, lunch boxes. How are you planning to control this so that you don’t lose out on the brand value that you have created?

Shobu Yarlagadda: See, whether it is an established brand like Tommy Hilfiger or anything else, there is always somebody who sells pirated stuff which is very difficult to control. But their quality and the reach is limited to a certain section of people. We have tied up with some of the best merchandising partners and they are in all the major outlets and stores and they give quality products with a quality design and a quality finish. I think that will be the differentiating factor. We will take action where possible but these unorganised sectors, local people, printing stuff and selling it will always be there.

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