Following the success of 'Baahubali: The Beginning' and 'Baahubali: The Conclusion', Netflix and SS Rajamouli announced 'Baahubali: Before The Beginning', a prequel to the franchise.
The series was supposed to show Baahubali's mother, Shivagami, rise to power, and actress Mrunal Thakur was cast in the lead role, with Deva Katta as the director. Actors Rahul Bose and Atul Kulkarni were later added to the cast to play two more pivotal characters.
Both the films were shot over the course of six months on massive sets built in Hyderabad at a cost of more than Rs 100 crore. More money was also put into the post-production process, but after a year of working on the edit, the producers decided to shelve Deva Katta's version and remake it with a new cast.
“The entire amount invested in 'Baahubali: Before The Beginning' was put in the cans as the team decided to revamp the series with a new director. Kunal Deshmukh and Ribhu Dasgupta had replaced Deva Katta and the prep work also began in the month of July 2021,” revealed a source.
However, by the end of 2021, everything had come to a halt. “The work done on ground in terms of pre-production couldn’t exactly be in sync with the vision that Netflix had for this period drama. After a series of discussions and contemplations, they decided to shelve the project at this point of time. Some extra money which was invested in the prep work too has been considered bad-debts for now. The approx. figure invested in 'Baahubali: Before The Beginning' was Rs 150 crore,” a source added.
The team apparently decided that stopping the project before the shoot was preferable to spending another Rs 200 crore on a subpar product.
“'Baahubali' is a cult in today’s time and they didn’t want to take the risk of meddling with something that has an iconic status. They may revisit it again, but this time around, only when the material on paper is strong enough to justify the legacy,” the source informed.
Bombay Fables, who were involved in the creative process, oversaw the reworked version. Swastik Productions was the previous name. Thakur had also dropped out of the series, with Wamiqa Gabbi taking over as Shivagami. According to rumours, Nayanthara was also approached for a key role, but no confirmation has been given. Actor Prabhas was the protagonist in the 'Baahubali' franchise, with actor Rana Daggubati playing the antagonist.