It’s been exactly a decade since the release of what can be called the gamechanger of modern Indian cinema, Baahubali, directed by SS Rajamouli. The first part of the franchise, Baahubali: The Beginning, was released on July 10, 2015, and became a massive success at the box office, paving the way for the emergence of ‘Pan-India’ films.
Baahubali made Prabhas a nationwide phenomenon and a pan-India star. It has put Rajamouli on the map of International cinema. With “Why Kattappa Killed Baahubali”, it has become a pop-culture phenomenon across the country. There are many such benchmarks that Baahubali has set, and it has also changed many people’s lives. Let us dive into such interesting facts and trivia of this film.
Baahubali features Rana Daggubati as Bhallaladeva, Ramya Krishna as Shivagami and Satyaraj as Kattappa. During the initial stages, the makers wanted to rope in Jason Momoa of Aquaman fame for Bhallaladeva, Sridevi for Shivagami and Sanjay Dutt for Kattappa roles. However, the final casting proved to be bang-on as Rana, Ramya Krishna, Satyaraj, along with Prabhas, Anushka, Nasser, and Tamannah delivered memorable performances.
When he was in the peak stage of his career, Prabhas catered five years exclusively for Baahubali, without working on any other film. He believed that chances like Baahubali would come once in a lifetime and decided to give his best to match Rajamouli’s vision.
Both Rana and Prabhas underwent huge physical transformations for the movie. For Baahubali’s role, Prabhas attained a weight of 105 kgs and reduced to 85 kilos for Sivudu’s character. For Bhallaladeva’s role, Rana bulked up his body and gained more than 33 kilos. Reportedly, Prabhas has set up a gym worth Rs. 1.5 crore at his home, to work on Baahubali.
The Kiliki language spoken by Kalakeya and the people of his dynasty became one of the major highlights of the film. This language was invented by popular Tamil writer and lyricist, Madhan Karky. He also put grammar rules for the language, which consisted of around 800 words. This is the first time a language has been created for a film in India.
The set of the Maahishmati Kingdom, worth more than Rs. 25 crores, was erected in an area spanning over 20 acres at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. The set now serves as a major tourist attraction at the Ramoji Film City.
The makers spent more than Rs. 85 crores on the VFX work of the film. More than 800 VFX artists from around 15 VFX studios worked for Baahubali.
Upon Rajamouli’s suggestions, Production Designer Sabu Cyril and his team created around 20,000 weapons for Baahubali. Right from armours, to bows and arrows and swords, Sabu Cyril intricately created every weapon.
In total, the makers spent around 200 crores on Baahubali: The Beginning. The film went on to collect more than Rs. 650 crores at the box office and emerged as the second-highest grosser in Indian cinema at that time.
Baahubali opened to mixed to negative talk on the first day in the Telugu states. However, the response has been phenomenal in North India. Within a day, the talk also changed in Telugu, and the movie went on to create records in every language it has been released in.
To create interest in the second part, the makers ended Baahubali: The Beginning with a cliffhanger, “Why Kattappa Killed Baahubali?”. This sentence has been among the top 10 searched phrases on Google India in 2015.
Baahubali is the first non-English film to be screened at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London.
A special poster of Baahubali was erected in an area spanning over 50,000 square feet in Kerala, which is a Guinness World Record.
Baahubali won the “Best Feature Film” award in the 63rd National Film Awards and became the first Telugu film to achieve the feat. It also won a National Award for Special Effects.
Baahubali won a total of 14 Nandi Awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Music Director and Best Cinematography.
Apart from five Indian languages, Baahubali was released in international languages like English, Mandarin (China) and Thai. Rajamouli trimmed 20 minutes for the international version.
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