S.S. Rajamouli: Lucky that Sridevi rejected the role of Sivagami in ‘Baahubali’

S.S. Rajamouli, the creator of sensational film franchise ‘Baahubali’, is known for his outspoken attitude. Although he usually is all praise for his actors, he was rather critical about a particular Bollywood actress.

On Sunday night, while participating in a regional chat program, he recalled how he was upset with Bollywood actress Sridevi’s behaviour and observed that, “We were lucky that Sridevi rejected our offer to play Sivagami’s role in ‘Baahubali: 2’." Even though the ace director initially inclined towards Ramya Krishnan for the role of Sivagami, to cater to the national audience, he had approached Sridevi offering her the role of Sivagami.But apparently she demanded a hefty amount to accept the offer followed by several other demands including booking an entire floor in a five-star hotel and business class tickets from Mumbai to Hyderabad.
Later on, it seems she even demanded a share in the Hindi version of ‘Baahubali’. So the director explained how Ramya ended up with the role, “After hearing series of wishes from her (Sridevi), our team got fed up. We also thought that it would be above our budget to meet her demands. Then we approached Ramya Krishnan and she proved herself fantastic and we now feel, we were lucky that we dropped the idea of having Sridevi in our film.”
When asked whom he would give top marks based on their performance, the star director named veteran actor Nassar who played the role of Bijalladeva in that movie. “Though his role was small he made his presence felt with his acting”.
Rajamouli also shed some light on the iconic scene in the sequel when Katappa is forced to kill Amarendra Baahubali, “Actually there were more shots in the scene where Shivagami forces Kattappa to agree to kill Amarendra Baahubali though they both loved him very much. But since the film’s length had already crossed 2 hours 45 minutes of duration, we removed some shots.” He also added that for his next movie his father K.V. Vijayendra Prasad will provide the story. Explaining why he always prefers to work with his father, he said “I am more convenient with him that is the reason”, he added.
Finally, he heaped praises on the Hindi media for their support to the ‘Baahubali’ films. He said he was very happy with the response he got from the Bollywood market. He also showered compliments on Karan Johar for his extra-ordinary marketing skills that made the film truly a super hit across the country.