SS Rajamouli reveals ‘Baahubali’ release day crisis: ‘We thought our careers were over’

SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise went on to redefine Indian cinema, becoming the first Indian film series to cross the ₹1,000 crore mark at the worldwide box office. But behind the historic success was a tense release day that left the filmmaker, cast and producers fearing the end of their careers.

In Netflix’s documentary Baahubali: The Torchbearer, Rajamouli revealed that the team initially faced intense uncertainty as the film’s massive budget and mixed early reactions created panic among everyone involved.

No fixed budget, constant funding pressure

Producer Shobu Yarlagadda, who backed the film under Arka Media Works, said the project began without a clearly defined budget. The team was constantly arranging money to continue production.

He revealed that as filming progressed, daily expenses increased significantly, with major war sequences costing as much as ₹1 crore every few days.

Rajamouli explained that the scale of the project meant the film could not depend only on the Telugu-speaking markets for recovery. The team needed Baahubali to succeed across multiple languages and regions.

The search for a wider audience eventually led them to Karan Johar, who agreed to distribute the film in the Hindi market after seeing the film’s visuals and concept through Rana Daggubati.

Release day turned into a nightmare

Despite the grand vision, the release of Baahubali: The Beginning became an emotional roller coaster.

Shobu recalled that on the first day, the makers were still facing a financial gap of around ₹70 crore.

Rajamouli said the film received strong reactions in Hindi markets, the US, the Gulf and other international regions. However, the response in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — the film’s biggest revenue markets — initially shocked the team.

He recalled seeing negative reactions and criticism spreading online, leaving him unable to understand what had gone wrong.

“It was a war,” actor Prabhas said while remembering the stressful day, adding that he did not know how the producers managed to handle the pressure.

Associate producer Karthikeya Vijay Yarlagadda also remembered the emotional impact, saying the team felt overwhelmed as criticism flooded social media.

Rajamouli said distributors were receiving messages calling the film “Indian cinema’s biggest disaster” and that the team believed their careers were at risk.

Word of mouth changed everything

The situation changed dramatically later that evening when positive word of mouth started spreading.

Within days, the film gained momentum, broke box office records in Telugu states and continued performing strongly in Hindi markets and overseas.

The success transformed Baahubali into one of Indian cinema’s biggest franchises and established Rajamouli as one of the country’s most influential filmmakers.

About the Baahubali franchise

The franchise began in 2015 with Baahubali: The Beginning, starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj and Nassar.

The film was praised for its scale, visual effects and storytelling, becoming one of the biggest Telugu films ever made.

Its sequel, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, became an even larger global phenomenon, earning around ₹1,788 crore worldwide and remaining among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.