Producer Shobu Yarlagadda has reacted to the constant online chatter about Hrithik Roshan being offered the role of Baahubali. He spoke about the decision behind the film's casting
Hrithik Roshan and Prabhas
SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali was a major milestone in Indian cinema and changed the career path of lead actor Prabhas for the better. The actor’s fame grew beyond Telugu-speaking states, and he became a pan-India star because of his role as Amarendra Baahubali. Over the years, there has been online chatter suggesting that before Prabhas, Hrithik Roshan was offered the role. Now, producer Shobu Yarlagadda has revealed the truth behind these rumours about the film’s casting.
Was Hrithik approached for Baahubali?
In an interview with Gulte, the producer said, “There’s one more thing that I’ll only bring up because I see all this online chatter that we asked Hrithik and all that for Prabhas’ role in Baahubali. That never happened, from day one, it was Prabhas.”
Yarlagadda added that the character was written by K. Vijayendra Prasad with Prabhas in mind right from the beginning. He clarified that there were no auditions for the role, nor did the team make any offers to any other actor.
When SS Rajamouli compared Hrithik with Prabhas
Following the success of Baahubali, an old video of director Rajamouli praising Prabhas went viral on social media. Back in 2009, while promoting Meher Ramesh’s Billa starring Prabhas, Rajamouli had said, “When Dhoom 2 released two years ago, I wondered why only Bollywood can make such quality films. Don’t we have heroes like Hrithik Roshan? I just saw the songs, posters and trailer of Billa, and I can only say one thing — Hrithik Roshan is nothing in front of Prabhas. I’d like to thank Meher Ramesh for taking Telugu cinema to Hollywood levels.”
However, the filmmaker later clarified his comments and admitted that his choice of words was poor. “It was long, long back — I think some 15–16 years ago. But yes, my choice of words wasn’t good, I must admit. My intention was never to degrade him. I respect him a lot. It was long back,” he said.
Baahubali re-release announcement
Meanwhile, the team of Baahubali is now gearing up for the theatrical release of Baahubali: The Epic, a special version combining both parts of the spectacular franchise. The makers have chosen to re-release the film to mark 10 glorious years of Baahubali, with the combined version hitting theatres on October 31 this year.
Baahubali: The Beginning, the first part of the franchise directed by S.S. Rajamouli and featuring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, and Tamannaah in lead roles, released on July 10, 2015. The film smashed box office records to become a massive blockbuster.
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, released in 2017 across over 9,000 screens worldwide, was made on a lavish budget of Rs 250 crore and went on to earn over Rs 1,800 crore globally, becoming India’s highest-grossing film of all time. It also became the first Indian film to cross the Rs 1,000 crore mark.
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