Entertainment / After Baahubali, it's difficult to impress audience: Prabhas

Telugu movie buffs who’ve observed Prabhas over the years would agree that the actor has never spoken in public as much as he has in recent weeks, travelling across the country and promoting Saaho. The admittedly shy actor had to get used to q&a sessions and all the promotional blitzkrieg.

When he sits down to talk to a small gathering of media in Hyderabad, his hometurf, he appears relaxed and breaks into Telugu now and then.

He’s often asked if he would have done a smaller film after Baahubali. He would have loved to: “I thought I’ll do a small film with a good love story, where a girl and boy walk hand-in-hand and we look at their stories. But (director) Sujeeth came to me with this big project. Initially me and my childhood friends (co-producers Vamsi Krishna Reddy and Pramod Uppalapati) thought we’ll do the film within ₹150 crore. But it grew to ₹350 crore; we didn’t compromise on quality.”

Prabhas remembers the time when S S Rajamouli narrated the story of Baahubali. “He described that gigantic waterfall. He said it’s as tall as the sky and you won’t know where it begins and ends. At that moment I knew he was on to something big. After Baahubali, it seemed right for me to do another film that will entertain the audience across the country,” he says.

He had met Sujeeth when the latter had made a short film and followed it up with his debut feature film Run Raja Run. “I asked him if he would work with me. He said with confidence ‘I will come with a suitable story for you’. And he did.”

Is Prabhas a spy, a double agent, a character with dual shades? He laughs and says, “Maybe, maybe not.” He’ll elaborate on the scale and the intended visual spectacle though. “We could have filmed at a regular waterfall instead of the one you saw in Baahubali. The larger-than-life creation had the wow factor and drew people to the theatres. Likewise, Saaho will make a visual impact.”

The fictitious Waaji city in the film, he says, is more contemporary than futuristic. He calls Saaho a highly technical production and screenplay-driven film. “A few action sequences took months of preparation, from conceptualisation to production design, action choreography and execution. Kenny Bates (action director) and his team were precise in their planning and safety standards. Sabu Cyril (production designer), Madhie (cinematographer) and R C Kamalakannan (visual effects supervisor) looked into the technicalities. We also had a Hollywood team helping with the action cuts (edits) along with editor Sreekar Prasad. All this was new for me and Sujeeth,” he explains.

He speaks about how Sabu’s team designed at least 30 dummy cars and trucks, including remote controlled cars for a crash sequence: “I hadn’t seen remote controlled cars earlier.”

Prabhas reveals that he weighed nearly 100 kilograms when he portrayed Amarendra Baahubali, “I trained for six months to look and fight like a warrior in a period film. The action in Saaho required me to do different things. There’s a Jetman sequence I am excited about watching on screen. It was tough for me to shed the post-Baahubali bulk and sport a lean look. I turned vegetarian and that helped.”

Though he loves to talk about the action action sequences that were filmed in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Italy, and how equipment had to be shipped from Prague and Paris, he insists that Saaho’s story will have an emotional connect. He also lauds Shraddha Kapoor: “She has a good role. The story revolves around her for a considerable time. She is impressive in her action scenes as well.”

Prabhas says he has learnt to step back, if needed, where high risk action sequences are concerned, “Kenny’s team had everything planned, so I had nothing to worry about. A few years ago I would have wanted to do everything myself. Now I feel if some odd scene requires a stunt double, it’s okay.”

Talking about his extensive promotions in Mumbai, he says he felt overwhelmed with the response from the media and the Hindi film fraternity, “Ajay Devgn, Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor have been in touch over the years. It feels extraordinary to receive such warmth.”

With the film’s release on August 30 and the high stakes involved, does he feel the pressure of having to deliver a hit? He says with a smile, “When I did Eeswar (2002), I was stressed if I would continue to get offers. Now the pressure is about continuing to entertain people after a massive film like Baahubali.”