Bahubali: Before The Beginning: Netflix shelves the Rs 150 crore film

The ambitious Netflix series has been shelved while the invested money is reportedly being considered as a bad debt.

Looking at the success of ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ and ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’, the makers of the movie were to come up with a prequel – ‘Baahubali: Before the Beginning’. Film’s director SS Rajamouli had announced the prequel in association with Netflix. However, as per the latest reports, the film has now been shelved by Netflix.

‘Baahubali: Before the Beginning’ was going to show the rise of Shivgami, the mother of Baahubali. For this, the makers are had reportedly cast Mrunal Thakur to play the lead. Instead of a film, the prequel was to be released as a series, directed by Deva Katta. Actors Rahul Bose and Atul Kulkarni were also reportedly cast for playing pivotal roles in the series.

The series had begun its shooting also. As per reports, it was being shot in Hyderabad with an approximate budget of over Rs 100 crore. It was also shot for over a period of six months, and some more money was reportedly put in for the post-production.

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However, later reports have claimed that the Deva Katta series has now been shelved. The makers are considering reworking the project with a fresh cast and a new director. A media report, quoting a source, said that not just the film’s cast but the makers are on the lookout for a new director as well.

Previously, Deva Katta was replaced by Kunal Deshmukh and Ribhu Dasgupta; work on the film had begun in July 2021. But, it again hit a roadblock by the end of the year. This is so because there could not be a proper sync between the pre-production work and the version that Netflix had for the series. The report claimed that the makers thought it appropriate to shelve the movie instead of putting another Rs 200 crore in it and creating a sub-standard product. All the money invested (Roughly Rs 150 crore) in the movie so far, is being considered as bad debt, reportedly.