The excitement around the second part of Baahubali has much to do with the question why Katappa killed the titular character. The question was put to director SS Rajamouli, actor Prabhas and actresses Tamannaah Bhatia and Anushka Shetty as soon as they arrived for the poster launch of the film at the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) Film Festival.
As expected, they didn’t divulge anything. But all hopes went lower when Prabhas said, “Actually you will get to know the answer to that in the third part.” adding quickly, “I am kidding.” Later in the discussion, it was revealed that the answer is confined to Rajamouli’s unit, which comprises his family members.
Even Bhatia had to wait almost till the release of the film to know the answer. “I am one of the lucky few who know the answer,” she said. “But I came to know a day before the release. Prabhas and I were doing the promotions in Delhi. We were discussing how people would react to the film in Mumbai and that’s when casually we were told why Katappa killed Baahubali (laughs).”
Despite the fact that it was obvious that the answer wasn’t going to be revealed, the large crowd that had turned up went back satisfied with the interaction and the motion poster of Baahubali: The Conclusion.
It starts off with thunder and lightning and a shirtless Prabhas emerging. He has a look of determination and is seen holding a long chain, which, maybe, was the one used to tie up his mother Devsena (Shetty). The background shows a closeup of his father’s character, also played by him.
The footage has the title song played in the background and sung by Daler Mehndi. Interestingly, this is the third time he has lent his voice to the titular track of a film after Mirzya and Dangal.
Here are a few more interesting things discussed at the launch:
– A week before the release of the first film, Rajamouli asked producer Shobu Yarlagadda to postpone the release. But his request was declined.
– The team was surprised with the speed at which the film caught the fancy of the country outside the Southern areas.
– The first film crossed Rs100 crore in 36 hours.
– Rajamouli never packed up for the day even during rains. He would shoot in between, even if the rain stopped for 15 minutes.
– The first part of the film was only about establishing the premise and characters. The actual unravelling of the plot and emotions will happen in the second part.
– Prabhas has been shooting for Baahubali for three and a half years. There have been times when he felt saturated. But Rajamouli encouraged him by showing him some videos of the shoot and other details about the film.
– Rajamouli regularly made changes during the shoot and the editing of both films.
Watch the motion poster: