The US$40 million epic film Baahubali: The Beginning has taken the box office by storm breaking existing records along the way.
Released July 10th in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi, Baahulabi: The Beginning grossed around US$26 million from all versions worldwide.
Producer Dil Raju, who distributed the film, told The Indian Express he is extremely happy with the numbers.
“The film has showcased the true potential of Telugu cinema. It has shown the world we can produce films that are content driven and still commercially successful,” he said.
“The film is doing extremely well and is on its way to become the biggest blockbuster in Indian cinema,” Raju said.
The movie first set records when it released its trailer hitting four million views within two weeks of its launch on YouTube and topping iTunes India with its audio track.
The movie, which casts India stars Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Tamannah Bhatia and Anushka Shetty in the lead roles, is about two brothers fighting over an ancient kingdom.
“It’s the simple story of a father who has been back-stabbed, a mother who has been enchained for no wrong of hers and the story of a son who takes revenge. The two parts span two generations,” explains Director S.S. Rajamouli.
However there was nothing simple about the project with one battle scene taking four months to shoot.
Baahubali, literally meaning The One With Strong Arms in English, is laden with special effects, and movie critics and fans have drawn comparisons with 2006 hit movie 300 starring Gerard Butler.
“It was challenging to get 1,000 soldiers into costume, with weapons and onto the location,” Rajamouli said.
“We worked with 2,000 extras and about 500-600 technicians, horses, elephants and equipment. It was quite a task, but we managed,” he said.
Baahubali, which has been three years in the making, also involves some 600 artists from various effects studios across India, South Korea and China working on 4,500 visual effects and computer graphics.
The film’s producer Shobu Yarlagadda said it was a calculated decision to release the film in two parts to help recoup production costs.
“We would not have been able to recover the cost even if it had been a single film because the storyline would not have allowed us to make it under three hours long,” he said.
“So we decided to increase the budget some more and make it in two parts and in two languages, Tamil and Telugu, which are our main markets, to make it more viable,” Yarlagadda said.
Even though the budget is breaking Indian records, it’s far off those blockbusters in Hollywood that cost more than US$200 million to make.
However Baahubali is still receiving rave reviews worldwide.
The Times of India gave the film 3.5 stars stating the epic enthrals with its sheer scale and grandeur, Bollywood Hungama also gave the film 3.5 starts and with an 9.4 IMDB rating, Baahubali: The Beginning, is the highest rated Indian film on the site.
The sequel is expected to hit the screens in mid-2016.
