Happy Birthday SS Rajamouli: 5 remarkable achievements of Tollywood’s Jakkanna

All the film industries across South India are mostly hero-worshipped for many decades. Star heroes who are often treated as demigods in their respective territories command a huge fan following which can easily influence the overall revenue of the film. Amid all this craze and numbers, only a few filmmakers hold the power to overshadow the charisma of their leading men among the viewers and take them all into their own world.

SS Rajamouli is one among those rare directors. He is considered the best story-teller in Indian cinema at the given moment and has carved a niche for himself by helming 11 back-to-back successful films (which include several blockbusters) in a span of 17 years. Right from his directorial debut with ‘Student No. 1’ in 2001, the Baahubali maker has always tried to transcend cinematic boundaries with his incredible imagination, captivating screenplay, and terrific action blocks.

As the visionary director and humble man turns 45 today, here are 5 remarkable achievements which make him a standout among his contemporaries.

SS Rajamouli can be termed as the only director in Indian cinema with a 100% success ratio to his credit. All his films starting with Junior NTR’s ‘Student No. 1’ in 2001 till the latest ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’ have turned to be sensational hits at the ticket counters. Earlier, Tamil star filmmaker Shankar used to hold this impeccable record, but in recent years, a couple of his flicks failed to meet the expectations of the audience.

Rajamouli’s remuneration also speaks volumes of his clout and popularity. As per a Times Now report, the ace director has reportedly pocketed Rs 28 crore for helming the entire Baahubali franchise and this is more than Prabhas who took home a good Rs 25 crore. Apart from this, the ‘Simhadri’ maker also gets a percentage in the overall profits.

After helming an emotional drama and a commercial potboiler, Rajamouli used the overlooked sport of Rugby as a backdrop to a tussle between college kids and a mafia group in ‘Sye’. An Iranian rugby coach was hired and all the concerned artists’ underwent a rigorous training for two months. With a riveting background score by MM Keeravani and eye-popping camera-work by Senthil Kumar, ‘Sye’ created an athletic spell with cheering girls, sweating bodies and bloodied faces that worked well with the viewers. It is the first and only Rugby-based film made in India till date. Nithiin, Genelia D’ Souza and Pradeep Rawat played lead roles in the film.

Imagine a filmmaker spending two years on a fantasy film featuring an animated fly as a hero when all A-list stars of Telugu cinema are falling behind him. That’s Rajamouli for you. His distinct storytelling techniques make him one among the finest in contemporary cinema. Though everybody knew the wafer-thin storyline of ‘Eega’ before the release itself, the film keeps you hooked throughout its runtime with a captivating screenplay, stunning CGI work, and spot-on performances by Samantha and Sudeep. And also, the fly was added to the frames using computer-graphics after the film is entirely shot. The bilingual went on to become one of the highest grossing films of the year with several accolades and awards. Rajamouli acquired national recognition with the Hindi dubbed version titled ‘Makkhi’.

Rajamouli strictly believes in good script, passionate actors and hardworking technicians. After seeing phenomenal success with ‘Magadheera’ which broke all the existing records in Telugu cinema, the ‘Chatrapathi’ director made a surprising decision by announcing ‘Maryada Ramanna’ with comedian Sunil as the protagonist. Inspired by the silent-comedy ‘Our Hospitality’, the film became a massive hit in Telugu with full marks to Rajamouli for showcasing such a brilliant story in an engaging way. ‘Maryada Ramanna’ has been remade in all major Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Bengali.

‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’, the second installment of SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise, is the first Indian film to rake in a total of Rs 1000 crore at the global box-office. In fact, the Hindi-dubbed version of this epic-warfare saga is also the first Bollywood film to cross Rs 500 crore. Rajamouli & Co have also managed to break the sequel jinx in Tollywood. The second part is much more grandeur than its prequel with mind-boggling visual effects, intense drama, terrific action sequences, and heart-pounding background score.