Now more than simply a name, Rajamouli is a force to be reckoned with. He is no doubt the most successful filmmaker in the South film industry. Before the Baahubali movies were released, Jakanna, as he is affectionately known, produced notable Telugu films like Magadheera and Eega that sparked interest in the Hindi-speaking region and made him a household name. Rajamouli cemented his place as one of the top league filmmakers in the nation by following the success of the Baahubali series with yet another smash hit in the form of RRR.
Rajamouli is undoubtedly a director with a great deal of patience and tenacity, given the massive and extravagant production scales on which his movies are made. Many of his performers have also remarked on the filmmaker’s iron resolve to finish his opulent projects despite all obstacles and how strong-willed he is about his productions. You might be shocked to learn that Rajamouli canceled two of his movies in the early phases of development.
This took place at the beginning of his career. According to rumors, Rajamouli intended to work with Malayalam actor Mohanlal on a historical epic after the success of his first movie, Student No 1, which starred Junior NTR, who made his acting debut in the movie. Rajamouli has always been an admirer of Mohanlal.
He made some sketches and plans for it with the help of the art directors Sabu Cyril and Manu Jagat. The idea, however, reportedly had to be dropped at that point because it did not appear possible due to an extremely high expense. These sketches are said to have been used by Sabu Cyril for a song sequence in Kilichundan Mambazham when Mohanlal appears as a warrior.
Another project that the director abandoned was a planned picture that was supposed to be a love story and starred Prakash, the son of renowned Telugu director Raghavendra Rao. However, Prakash’s movie Neetho, which was released just before filming got underway, bombed at the box office. After it bombed, Rajamouli decided he did not want to take the chance of working with Prakash again, thus he abandoned this project as well.
With Mahesh Babu, Rajamouli is currently working on SSMB29, a movie that will be released across all of India.