Baahubali running to packed houses as critics lavish praise on film.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: Baahubali, the historic drama directed by SS Rajamouli, is receiving applause from around the world just a few hours into its release in theatres across India.
According to The Indian Express, a popular Hollywood studio has approached the director for the rights to remake Baahubali.
“The period war drama is said to be the most expensive film ever made in India, and will release in Tamil and Hindi at the same time. Now, an American studio has shown interest in buying the rights of the movie to make its Hollywood remake,†said a source close to the maker of Baahubali.
The source also confirmed that even though the director is yet to make a final call on giving right to the Hollywood studio, he is pleased with the offer that came just a few hours into the release of the movie.
“It was a pleasant surprise for Rajamouli when he got this offer, but the makers are yet to seal the deal. The studio and the makers are in talks and want all specifications in place before they sign on the dotted line.â€
The release of Baahubali was one of the most sought after, not only in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana but also in states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka as the earlier movies of the director received a rousing welcome as they were all released in multi-lingual.
According to sources from Andhra Pradesh, fans of Rajamouli thronged into theatres as early as 5 AM in the morning and the theatres had to start the show early to avoid any untoward incident. Even after starting the shows early, there are reports about police lathi-charge in front of many theatres as the crowd became impossible to manage.
In other states such as Kerala, where the movie has been released only in 25 theatres due to a protest of the exhibitors association, shows are being screened houseful. The crew of Baahubali had during the last month visited many Indian states for the promotion of the movie, which is also attracting people to the theatres.
Baahubali has the young actor Prabhas playing the lead role and Tamannah Bhatia and Anushka Shetty play opposite to him. Other stars appearing in the movie are Ramya Krishnan, Nasser and Satyaraj.
Baahubai is by far the most expensive movie ever made in India – Rs 250 crore ($40 million). The other movies that made it to this position were Rajnikanth’s Endhiran – 132 crore ($21 million), Shah Rukh Khan starrer RA. One – Rs 125 crore ($20 million), Aamir Khan’s Dhoom 3 – Rs 125 crore ($20 million).