Bollywood actor Sridevi was the first choice to play the role of ‘Queen mother’ Sivagami in the cult hit movie Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali: The Conclusion, but she had refused the offer. Eventually, the role went to Ramya Krishnan.
Sivagami, the firebrand queen mother of Mahishmathi was the lynchpin of the Baahubali saga, the moving force behind everything that happens to all the other major characters. Ramya Krishnan's powerful performance of the role was one of the most talked about highlights of the two films.
Ever since director SS Rajamouli revealed that Sridevi rejected the offer, one question that actor had been facing was why she did not take up the role.
Reports had suggested that she rejected the role over remuneration issues. According to a report in The Times of India, Sridevi had asked for five business class tickets, an entire floor of a five-star hotel, a share of profits from the Hindi film market and Rs 8 crore in remuneration. TNM was not able to independently confirm this, however.
While Sridevi evaded the question on most of the occasions, she finally spoke up during a promotional event of her upcoming film, MOM when the same query was raised by a media person.
Reacting to it, the actor said that the film has been made and is doing phenomenally well. Therefore, there is no point in raking up the issue now.
It may be mentioned here that SS Rajamouli had said during an interview that he felt lucky that Sridevi rejected the offer after seeing Ramya Krishnan’s performance in the film.
Baahubali 2, which hit the silver screens on April 28, 2017, turned out to be one of the biggest hits in the history of Indian cinema.
The film grossed over Rs. 1500 crore at the global box office.
Starring Prabhas in the titular role, the film also had Rana Daggubati, Sathyaraj, Anushka Shetty, Tammannah Bhatia, Nasser and Ramya Krishnan in the star cast.
Produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni under the banner Arka Media Works, the film has a strong technical crew that comprised of MM Keeravani for music, KK Senthil Kumar for cinematography and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao for editing.
K V Vijayendra Prasad had penned the story with SS Rajamouli joining him to pen the screen play.
This content was provided by Digital Native.