What went into the making of an all-time hit in the Indian cinema industry — some traditional wisdom and new age tools apparently, going by what Director SS Rajamouli, and Producer Shobu Yarlagadda shared on the making of the two-part blockbuster Baahubali.

“My wife as always was my first sounding board, then I bounce the idea off a hugely critical bunch of relatives, that is how an idea starts, at home,” says Rajamouli about how the period-fantasy was conceived.

That, and his personal equation with the Producer, who realised early on that this was a movie where no half measures would do. Also, everyone had a clear role to play and they did their part, he emphasised.

If creativity was Rajamouli's, arranging the finance and marketing was Shobu’s. “It was important that every player in the movie realised they were key to the success,” said Rajamouli in an interaction with cinematographer and director, Rajeev Menon, at an event organised by the Chennai International Centre.

With the mega-budget movie, made in Telugu and Tamil and dubbed in Hindi and Malayalam, the makers realised that it was bigger than the traditional market. “So we expanded our market to fit our feature,” says Shobu.

Here is where new media and the reach of the Internet helped, “We engaged with our potential audience with ‘making videos' to give a feel of the spectacle that was in store,” he said.

A sampling of the effort that went into Baahubali was available on social media and the makers kept close track to ensure it was trending adequately in every target market. If the massive settings and special effects did not draw interest then it was a video of the stars working out in the gym. So the audience’s appetite was continuously whetted, he said.

Of course, with the two parts made over a span of five years since conception, Part I was a learning experience that honed them for the second, said Rajamouli.

The next market that they hope to conquer is of course, the largest — China. This is a country that has 40,000 screens against 8,000 in India.

“We need to target Baahubali 's release in at least 12,000 screens to get it right, that is only for starters but the rest is up to the audience there,” he said.

To a question from Rajiv Menon if the audience here can hope for a similar blockbuster any time soon, Rajamouli said it would entirely depend on whether a story is available. “But I do not see that happening for the next four-five years,” he said.

The story and the script are the real heroes of Baahubali which was made without a big-name star cast.

Though the first draw for a movie is usually a big star, it is the story that keeps the audience occupied in the cinema hall and we need to balance that, he said.

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