It was difficult to let go Baahubali, says S S Rajamouli

Ace director S S Rajamouli claims that a lot of thought went into creating the Bahubali animated series-Crown of Blood. “When we penned down pre-stories and post-stories of characters in Baahubali and also observed the evolving character arc of each character, we realized that there is a lot more to be shared with the audience from “Baahubali’, 'he says. He disclosed that in western countries the branding of movies happens organically, while we fall short of such brandings. “In India, we are quite happy if our film does well and avoid expanding our fan base. Whereas in western countries those movies spill over into other media and reach out to wider audiences,” he points out.

However, he admits that they tried to do many things around the ‘Bahubali’ franchise. “We planned a web series, VR film and games around it but we couldn’t succeed much because it was new for us. Then we realized that we needed to tie up with the right people but it took us some time,” he informs. He was surprised when one Sharath approached them with the idea of doing an animation series on Prabhas starrer. “I was under the notion that animation was confined to children’s cartoons but he opened our eyes to a new vision. His idea of animation was on par with Western and Japanese works and we agreed to his vision,” he informs.

However, he had another difficult task of handing over his baby ‘Bahubali’ to another team. “I didn’t want anything to happen without my knowledge and I wanted to be part of their work. However, I soon realized that they had a strong and clear vision on animated series. Finally, I had to let go of my baby. However, I explained to them about our characters, conflicts and human emotions which we banked on. They are assured to retain the ‘soul’ of Baahubali and deliver an everlasting animated version,” he concludes.