Dil Raju’s Rs 25 crore buy

Many were under the assumption that Baahubali’s producers were taking a risk with the movie as the budget of the film had exceeded Rs 150 crore, making the film one of the most expensive projects ever made in Indian cinema. But on Saturday, trade insiders confirmed that ‘sales’ of S.S. Rajamouli’s mega project has already begun with producer Dil Raju buying the Nizam distribution rights of the film for an eye-watering Rs 25 crore just for the first part of the movie!

While not confirming the exact price he paid, Dil Raju said, “Yes, I brought Baahubali’s Nizam area rights.” He adds that he will take the rights of the film’s second part too, for the same area.

When asked about the risk factor, he added, “If you are not taking a risk, great films never come. I feel Baahubali is going to be the greatest film in Telugu cinema.”

“Not only the Nizam area, the film has sold for record-breaking prices in two other sectors. The distribution rights for Karnataka area was sold for '9 crore and for Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur, Chittoor and Bellary... it was Rs 13 crore,” added a source. And these are just three sectors, with quite a few others left to be sold.

Also, apart from Telugu, the producer is planning to release the film in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and also in some foreign languages. That’s the reason why director Rajamouli is apparently using “lingo-free” unique dialogues for all characters.

“If you look at early Telugu films, you will find a clean and not the modern versions of Telugu. But in Baahubali, the director has been using an easy language that will not sound odd during dubbing for other languages,” added the source.