It was four years ago when actor Prabhas’ Radhe Shyam went on floors. The film suffered sporadic delays due to the pandemic, but the lead actor had no qualms about his character graph being affected. “I’m used to doing films that take four years,” Prabhas quips.

He is quick to add that he prefers working on a single project over a period of time: “I was shooting for Saaho (2019) as well as Radhe Shyam, which became a bit problematic. In the past also, I worked on two Telugu films at the same time. But doing one film and concentrating on that is always more comfortable than doing multiple projects simultaneously.”

Despite delivering blockbusters such as Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017), Prabhas says that he is nervous before the release of Radhe Shyam, and that primarily comes from the fact that the film is mounted on “a very high budget”.

He adds, “We always thought we would finish the film on a Rs. 150 crore budget. But due to the delay, the budget increased to Rs. 300 crore. Moreover, the producers didn’t want to compromise on the portions that were shot on a ship. I feel the box-office pressure and it’s stressful.”

A flagbearer of big-budget and larger-than-life pan-India films, Prabhas confides that he wants to do “something different and artistic” after every three tent-pole films. “I’m already planning a comedy film that is not mounted on a huge scale. I don’t always want to do big films. I don’t want the audience to think that every film Prabhas is coming out with is a big one. I might also do a small love story for which I might not even take any remuneration,” ends the 42-year-old actor.