Madhureeta Mukherjee (BOMBAY TIMES; January 2, 2018)

This man needs no introduction. Well, not after he flexed his perfectly greased, rock-solid bahu (arms) at the box office. Yes, the man is Prabhas, whose magnum opus Bahubali swept all records nationally and globally in 2017. Bollywood threw open its gates for him and suddenly, moviegoers across the nation were waiting with bated breath for one unanswered question — Kattapa ne Bahubali ko kyu maara? (in Bahubali 2: The Conclusion).

But even after all the adulation and success, the actor remains a man of few words. He believes in letting his action speak out loud, literally. Recently, the actor, who rarely gives interviews, got chatty with us about the landmark year (2017) of his career, his life after the epic drama, his affair with Bollywood and his step to superstardom.

“Bahubali was a life-changing experience. Without that film, people wouldn’t have recognised me across the country. I have done good Tamil films, too, but after Bahubali, people across cultures and languages started recognising me, including the overseas audience. S S Rajamouli (director) knew that he was making something big, given the budget and scale of both the films, but the response that we got was beyond expectations.”

‘Instead of saying that the script does not work, we say that the actor didn’t work in the role’
Ask him if there was a huge difference in his life before and after Bahubali, and he’s quick to reply, “Yes, you can definitely say that there was a life before and after Bahubali. This was a once-in-a-lifetime movie. I definitely feel that it has been a huge change for me, even my old dubbed films got an opening after three-four years, and they enjoyed a good run.”

This year, the actor has moved on to other films, like the trilingual Saaho with Shraddha Kapoor, but he fondly reminisces the five years that he spent living as Bahubali. “Walking into such a grand set every day is exciting for an actor. I was part of a great wonder, so the experience didn’t ever exhaust me. It’s just in the last one month of the shoot that I felt that I should do something else. I told Raja also that I wanted to do something else now,” he says. In the same breath, he adds, “During the first part, the pressure was far more, as we didn’t know how the Hindi-speaking audience would react to it. The Tamil and the Malayalam audience are slightly different, so when it worked with the Hindi audience, we were shocked. But Rajamouli made a universal film, so that made a huge difference. His vision is larger than what you can even imagine. Someone like Karan Johar backing the film also helped a lot. Initially, we wanted to make part one and two together, but then Raja thought that the script was becoming too long, and he wanted to focus on many characters like Kattappa, Devasena, Shivamani and Avantika. Of course, the question — Why Kattappa killed Bahubali — kept the audience engaged for a year.”

About Saaho, he adds, “Our director (Sujeeth) was very keen to have Shraddha on board. When he discussed it with the producers and all of us in the team, everyone felt that Shraddha is perfect for the role and luckily, she accepted the film.”

‘ANUSHKA (SHETTY) AND I ARE JUST GOOD FRIENDS’
The Friday fate is every actor’s nightmare, so for an actor to devote five years of his life to one ambitious project was a humongous risk. “I was never insecure about how the film would turn out. I am from the film background, so I know how it works. Even if Bahubali didn’t work, I would treat it like — here is a film I gave the kind of time in which I could have done three films and it bombed. So what? I put the maximum effort on the greatest film. I knew Raja could make the greatest film in Indian cinema, and this was the biggest opportunity of my life, so I didn’t want to miss it for anything,” he asserts.

During the course of filming Bahubali, rumours had sparked about love brewing between his co-star Anushka Shetty and him. Any truth to that? “When you are paired opposite someone on screen (for so long), people tend to link you up with them. As for Anushka and me, we are just good friends,” he clarifies.

‘PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH INDIAN STORIES’
What is interesting is that in today’s times when we are talking about new-age cinema, urban stories et al, India’s fourth biggest blockbuster, Bahubali, was an epic film. It was a fantasy drama rooted in Indian ethos and tradition, albeit told in a very Indian style, presented with the grandness of new-age special effects.

It goes to prove that stories that are purely Indian in nature are still very close to our hearts, right? He spontaneously replies, “People want to watch Indian stories. There was a time when Mughal-E-Azam was the most grand cinema that was made. Bahubali was Rajamouli’s way of saying a story, but we all are somewhere unknowingly still inspired by epics like the Ramayan, Mahabharat, and stories from the Amar Chitra Katha. These stories will always be inside us. We make modern films, but then again, something in us wants to revisit historic films and tales from the past. After 10 years, we might get bored of all this, and make something else.”

‘I HOPE THAT I NEVER LET STARDOM GET TO MY HEAD’
Talk to him about working in Bollywood and watching Hindi films, and he says, “I watch a lot of Hindi films; I live in Hyderabad, where 60 per cent of the people speak in Hindi. I am getting good offers from Bollywood; I had okayed a script three years ago. It is a love story that I will do post Saaho.” What about friends in Bollywood? “I made a good association with Karan Johar; if I want anything, I think I can ask him. He has helped us a lot. In fact, I met some actors (from Bollywood) in Karan’s house. They were all very chilled out.”

Now that he has made an entry into BTown circles, we ask him if stars down South are different, in the way they interact with each other. “There might be some small regional differences, but they are all generally very cool. I think that Bollywood stars are more chilled out than actors in Tamil or Telugu cinema, though the new generation of actors (down South) are also more chilled out,” he says.

For an actor who is now at the top of his game, Prabhas is grounded, humble and keeps a low profile. “From my first film, I was like this. While dubbing for Bahubali, Karan Johar told me that publicity is important. Basically, I am a shy person,” he explains.

About being high on success, he says, “I hope that I never let stardom get to my head. I always have my childhood friends around me; some of them are my producers, too, and for them, it doesn’t matter if I am doing films. They just feel happy for me. I have grown up with them, so they don’t see me as a star. I have the best people around me, so if I let success go to my head, they will be the first to put a hammer to my head.

South actors have a massive fan following, they are put on pedestals and worshipped by their fans. Does all that pressure make him fiercely competitive? “There is competition in every industry. Healthy competition is something that helps you get better and better. So, in that way, I am competitive,” he replies.

‘IF THE SCRIPT IS NOT GOOD, THE FILM WILL NOT WORK’
To break away from the larger-than-life image of Bahubali is also no mean feat. Will filmmakers be able to downplay that aura with ease and cast him in roles that are closer to reality?

“Well, in Hollywood, the guy who plays Batman and Spider-Man also plays normal characters. The biggest stars in the world want to play different characters. We can’t give the excuse that because an actor played a superhero in his previous film, his next one won’t work. If the script is not good, the film will not work. Instead of saying that the script does not work, we say that the actor didn’t work in the role. That is the problem. I was doing a lot of action films and people loved me in those movies. After that, I did a small love story and it was a hit as the script was good. People forgot that I had done so many action films and started liking me in the love story,” he explains.

Apparently, Prabhas had never set out to be an actor. With time, choices changed. And fate too. Today, he’s titled a superstar, and that’s a mighty leap. But he quickly reacts to that and says, “Not yet, but I’m hoping one day I will be a superstar."