Baahubali: The Beginning completes seven years; here are some memorable facts about the epic period drama

The biggest blockbuster in Indian cinema history, Baahubali: The Beginning, was released seven years ago. The period action film, written by KV Vijayendra Prasad, gathered a lot of appreciation from the netizens and collected over Rs 685.50 crore worldwide. With a budget of over Rs 200 crore, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Prabhas's film gave Tollywood a whole new identity.

As the clock turns seven for this one, Dharma Productions took to Instagram, sharing a post, commemorating seven years of their pan-Indian project. Produced by Karan Johar, Baahubali: The Beginning, featured Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah, Sathyaraj and Ramya Krishnan in prominent roles.

The big-budget period film won the ‘National Award for the Best Feature film’, in 2016. "Playing the role of Baahubali was one of the most special things of my career. I'm very thankful to Rajamouli sir for having the faith in me to play such an important part in the franchise," Prabhas said.

Like most of Rajamouli's films, Baahubali part 1, too, is a regular revenge drama. The only difference is that it's set in an imaginary world made on a lavish scale and against the backdrop of a royal family. It's the story of a son vying to avenge his father's death for a kingdom. But Rajamouli is no ordinary filmmaker. Only he can make a simple tale as entertaining, engrossing and awe-inspiring as Baahubali, albeit with some minor flaws.

After waiting for two years, the makers released Baahubali: The Conclusion in 2017, which to date is the highest grosser in India. The sequel collected over Rs 1,800 crore at the box office worldwide.

Let's take a look at some of the facts about Baahubali: The Beginning:

• The film, which was conceived as a two-part franchise in the scripting stage, was released in July 2015, on 4000 screens worldwide in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam.
• It is the first Indian film to be made on a budget of Rs 180 crore.
• There are huge statues in the film that were inspired by the Colossus of Rhodes. It is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and stood tall before its destruction in an earthquake. 
• Baahubali: The Beginning holds the Guinness World Record for having the largest poster of more than 50, 000 sq ft during the audio release function.
• SS Rajamouli had approached Sridevi to play the role, which eventually went to Ramya Krishnan. The late actor quoted a budget, which the makers couldn't afford.

• Prabhas dedicated five years of his career to this film. The actor declined all offers he received for other movies, ads and photoshoots and focused on his role. “He had the offer to do an advertisement worth Rs 10 crore. But he refused that too,” director SS Rajamouli told The Indian Express.
• Hearsay is that Prabhas, further, bought special gym equipment worth a crore to get the desired look.
• The war sequences were shot for 120 days, under the supervision of Peter Hein, the popular stunt choreographer, and Sabu Cyril, the production designer.
• While the waterfall scenes were filmed at Athirapally in Kerala, the snow portions of Baahubali: The Beginning were shot in Bulgaria.
• Over 800 technicians, including 15 VFX studios worked on this film, and V Srinivas Mohan was the VFX supervisor for both parts 1 and 2 of the Baahubali franchise.
• The VFX for the film cost more than Rs 85 crore.

• Prabhas and Rana Daggubati had fight scenes in the second part and Rajamouli wanted to make the fight scenes as real as possible. The actors took six months of weapons training under Vietnamese fighters to give a cutting edge to the climax of the film which revolves around a war sequence.
• More than 20,000 weapons were used in the whole film.
• Madhan Karky created a fictional language Kilikili, for the Kalakeya army.
• Prabhas met many WWE fighters to learn about the nuances of body sculpting and his peer, Rana Daggubati, gained more than 30 kilos to get a physique for his role.
• Baahubali: The Beginning, additionally, won the National Award for the best special effects.
• Did you know before approaching Rana, Rajamouli thought of roping in Jason Momoa of the GoT fame, for Bhalladeva's role? And, notably, the makers had erected a 125-ft Bhalladeva statue for the film at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad.
• The Prabhas-starrer is the first non-English film to be screened at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
• Over 5000 junior artists worked for 250 days shooting the popular war sequence.

• The International version of part 1, which was screened at the Busan World Film Fest, was 20 minutes shorter than the original. Also, part 1, was released in Thailand, China, Vietnam, Japan, and Latin American countries.
• In Baahubali: The Beginning, Sivagami is seen holding Baahubali as she saves him from drowning in a river. The baby Baahubali in the scene is a girl from Kerala. Akshitha, the daughter of the production executive, was only 18 days old when they shot for the scene.
• A museum was created to house the weapons, armours and costumes that the actors sported. While museums had been built for Hollywood films, this is the first time that something of that sort was designed for an Indian film.
• SS Rajamouli, the director is married to Rama, who designed costumes for both the Baahubali franchise.
• In an interview, Rana said Baahubali helped him explore new avenues across borders. "It is because of the experience of working with finer actors and a highly talented director. Everything I have learnt from both the parts of the film will reflect on whatever I choose to do next," he said.
• Baahubali: The Beginning made it to The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIMA). Students had worked on a case study on how art, business, and technology were combined to deliver a hugely successful film franchise. The paper was a part of an elective course on movie business, offered to the second year students of the institute's flagship programme in management.

(Baahubali: The Beginning streams on Amazon Prime Video)