Rajamouli reveals 'Baahubali' was initially dubbed 'Indian cinema's biggest disaster'
What's the story
SS Rajamouli's Baahubali franchise is a landmark in Indian cinema. However, the release day of the first film was marked by anxiety and uncertainty. In the new Netflix documentary Baahubali: The Torchbearer, Rajamouli revealed that on its release day, Baahubali was regarded as "Indian cinema's biggest disaster," leaving them fearing for their careers.
Production struggles
'Could have funded an entire small film...'
Rajamouli and producer Shobu Yarlagadda of Arka Media Works shared that the film's budget was not fixed initially. Yarlagadda revealed they were always trying to secure funds for daily shoots, with costs eventually rising to over ₹25L per day. Yarlagadda added, "Our four-day war sequence alone could have funded an entire small film 12 years ago." "We were spending around ₹1 crore every four days."
Market focus
Reliance on multiple language markets
Due to the film's high budget, Rajamouli said its success couldn't rely only on the Telugu states. "We couldn't depend on the Telugu states alone to recover our investment." "We were banking on the film working across multiple languages to ensure it became profitable," he said. This strategy led them to Karan Johar, who agreed to distribute Baahubali in the Hindi market after Rana Daggubati pitched it and showed him stills from the film.
Release chaos
'We were still ₹70 crore in the red'
Despite the film's success in Hindi and international markets, the release day was a nightmare for Rajamouli. "On the day of the release of Part One, we still had a deficit of ₹70 crore." "What we had spent, minus what we had recovered, left us ₹70 crore in the red," Yarlagadda recalled. "The film opened to rave reviews in Hindi...But the majority of our revenue was expected to come from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana...The reviews there were terrible."
Emotional turmoil
Prabhas got emotional recalling the day
The day of release was a nightmare for the Baahubali team. Prabhas, who played the lead role, became emotional while recalling the day. "It was a war. I don't know how the producers survived that day." Associate producer Karthikeya Vijay Yarlagadda remembered, "People had already started bashing us on Twitter. We were on the verge of breaking down."
Industry reaction
'As far as we were concerned...'
Rajamouli also remembered a conversation with one of his distributors who told him about the industry's reaction to Baahubali. "They're calling it the biggest disaster in Indian cinema. Those were the kinds of messages he was getting." "As far as we were concerned, it was the end of our careers," Rajamouli said. However, by that evening, positive word-of-mouth spread, and within a week, Baahubali broke box office records in Telugu states while also holding its own in Hindi markets.