Upcoming Indian film Baahubali being likened to Hollywood’s ‘300’

Baahubali is all set to be India’s most expensive film of all time. An epic battle movie, it is being likened to the smash-hit Hollywood flick 300. 

However, the film is not going to be a Bollywood flick, rather it will be made in the Tamil and Telugu languages for the Tollywood and Kollywood markets. Director SS Rajamouli said the movie, which eager cinema-goers are also comparing to Hercules, will break the previous big-budget Indian film by a whopping $17 million. “There are still over a hundred days of shooting left, followed by post-production for the second part. The budget will definitely be over 250 crore rupees ($40 million) for both parts,” Mr Rajamouli told a news source.

The expensive movie will shed more light on southern-India’s film industries, which are often underrated and overshadowed by the more internationally bankable Bollywood film industry. Baahubali- The Beginning  is the first part of the two-part film series, which will hit theaters on July 10.

Baahubali, literally meaning The One With Strong Arms in English, is laden with special effects and tells the fictional story of two warring brothers battling for control of an ancient Indian kingdom.

Bollywood remains India’s highest earning film industry abroad, raking in impressive figures of $565 million in 2013 according to Deloitte. However, Tollywood and Kollywood film industries were close behind, with impressive numbers of $468 million.

“It’s the simple story of a father who has been back-stabbed, a mother who has been enchained for no wrong of hers and the story of a son who takes revenge. The two parts span two generations,” explained Mr Rajamouli. “We worked with 2,000 extras and about 500-600 technicians, horses, elephants and equipment. It was quite a task, but we managed,” said the director.

The large battles scenes of the movie, featured in the short teaser, are already drawing comparisons to Hollywood blockbuster film 300. However, it remains to be seen whether Baahubali will do well at the box office or slump to a dismal opening.