Baahubali director surprised by reaction to animated series

Baahubali director SS Rajamouli has termed it surprising that animation was considered only for children in India compared with other Asian and Western countries.

Speaking at a press meet to promote his upcoming animated series Baahubali: Crown of Blood set to release on Disney+ Hotstar, he urged the Indian filmmakers to use animation as a medium for storytelling instead of only relying on films, an Indian media outlet reported.

“It’s surprising that unlike Japan, a colourful country like India doesn’t go beyond children’s cartoons when it comes to animation. We still think of every story in terms of films. But in a country of crores of people, only 10 crore of them bought tickets for a film like Baahubali which was highly successful,” he said.

According to Rajamouli, the audience had a liking for books, novels, games and anime, and the idea behind the Baahubali animated series was to reach people like them.

Speaking about the industry in India, he said that filmmakers only go as far as giving a hit movie instead of expanding it to other mediums.

“When a brand is created in the West, it goes multi-media. We’ve tried making games, a VR film and a series for Baahubali so far, but nothing has panned out as expected,” he said.

Producer Shobu Yarlagadda said that Baahubali movies were only one part of a whole franchise as the makers plan to expand it to multiple mediums.

“It has multiple parts to it for becoming a tentpole franchise. This is adult entertainment, in the sense, it’s meant for everyone beyond kids. We wanted people to come into the world of Baahubali in multiple ways. We have so much more in store,” he added.

Baahubali: Crown of Blood series is set to be streamed on Disney+ Hotstar from May 17 in multiple languages.