SS Rajamouli feels lucky that Sridevi was not a part of Baahubali

SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus Baahubali franchise has attained global recognition. The director is now hugely popular all across the country. Rajamouli is known for his outspoken nature, he rarely shies away from the media and gives crystal clear answers.

In one such recent interview, the director was asked about why Sridevi was not part of Baahubali though he had approached her initially. Rajamouli wanted to cast Sridevi for the role of Sivagami to give the movie a pan Indian appeal. She is a very popular star in the North and hence he thought that casting her would cater the movie to a national audience.

But Rajamouli now feels lucky that she was not part of the project. Apparently, Sridevi had quoted a hefty sum as her remuneration. She had also made some unreasonable demands including booking an entire floor in a five-star hotel and business class tickets from Mumbai to Hyderabad everytime she flied down for shooting.

The actress even demanded a share in the Hindi version of Baahubali. In the interview, Rajamouli explained how the role eventually ended up in Ramya Krishnan’s hands.

Rajamouli is quoted saying,

“After hearing series of wishes from Sridevi, we thought that it would be above our budget to meet her demands. Then we approached Ramya Krishnan and she proved herself fantastic and we now feel, we were lucky that we dropped the idea of having Sridevi in our film. The film wouldn’t have been like that had if she has done Sivagami’s role. Sridevi is known for subtle performances and she doesn’t have a powerful voice. Whereas, Ramya Krishnan has a terrific screen presence, voice and capable of delivering an intense performance.”

Sridevi opted out of Baahubali and went on to sign for Tamil superstar Vijay’s fantasy adventure movie Puli. The movie, directed by Chimbudevan ended up as a collosal failure. It is worth a mention that Sridevi also had issues with the Puli team over her remuneration.