Prabhas opens up on Radhe Shyam, feeling the pressure of being a Pan-India star, and believing in destiny

Baahubali  fame Prabhas is in a ‘dilemma’. While most actors would want to play imposing, towering characters, Prabhas, the flagbearer of big-budget and larger-than-life pan-India films, has been trying to do a “regular” small budget love story, or a comedy but it seems to be a difficult task considering his Pan India stardom.

Prabhas’s upcoming Radhe Shyam , which marks his comeback to the silver screen after 2019 release Saaho , is a period romantic saga mounted on a mega canvas. Touted to be a power-packed film set to give a true cinematic experience with mystery, romance, action and thrills, has got bigger with every passing day. “Everytime we plan not to make it very big, it becomes bigger, I don’t know how,” laughs Prabhas, who had said two years back, around the release of Saaho that for some time he didn’t want to do period or sci-fi films.

Many of Prabhas’s forthcoming projects are Pan-India and that includes big-budget actioners - Nag Ashwin’s sci-fi thriller Project K, with Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone; Om Raut’s Adipurush , which is a mythological film based on the epic Ramayana, with Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon, action-thriller and two part franchise Salaar, and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s romantic action entertainer Spirit. “I’m planning a comedy which won’t be mounted on a huge scale. I might also do a love story. I don’t always want to do big films. But Project K was always big, Salaar (Prashanth Neel directed) has become big. Now I am planning films where budgets won’t be big but I would like the story to be big,” says Prabhas.

He furthers, “I can’t take so much stress with every film of mine. It is not that I am enjoying this pressure. We always thought we would finish Radhe Shyam in Rs 150 crore. But due to delays, the budget increased to Rs 300 crore. Moreover, the producers didn’t want to compromise on the portions where we shot on a ship,” he says. The other pressure, he says, is meeting the expectations of his humongous fans. “Because it is a responsibility towards your fans who love you immensely so you want to prove it and make them happier. We don’t want to fail them and for me doing an out-and-out commercial film is much easier than a Radhe Shyam. Producers-directors are happy doing a commercial film with me but I don’t know why I take the risk and give myself more tension."

On if he belives in destiny 

With Baahubali 2: The Conclusion turning out to be a huge game-changer in Bollywood as the film grossed over Rs 500 crore, Prabhas wonders if he could achieve the same feat again with Radhe Shyam. “Rs 500 crore is too big a number and if it does that kind of business I will be shocked. But if the film is a hit or more than that I will be happy,” he says. Prabhas plays a palmist in Radhe Shyam which is set in the backdrop of 1970’s Europe and shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi. His character of Vikramaditya is said to be inspired by the European palmist Cheiro and according to the film’s director Radha Krishna Kumar, the story was developed by incorporating a few real-life incidents. However, Prabhas doesn’t believe in palmistry or astrology but after the stupendous success of Baahubali, he started acknowledging destiny.

“I have never succumbed to astrology but I have heard a lot of interesting stories from my friends, family. Directors have told me several stories but I never showed my palm to anyone, not even for fun. I used to only believe in hard work but after Baahubali I felt maybe there is something called destiny.

Now I believe that let destiny do its work and I will do mine. But what really attracted me to Radhe Shyam is the unpredictable plot and the character arc of Vikramaditya. Plus it had all the astro-science elements that you’ll enjoy while watching the film. The storyline should work, it is interesting the way it goes, the destiny in love – fight, the way it is written, there are a lot of twists in the last 40 minutes or so. Vikramaditya is a little complicated, but we could build this character in different ways – he is very realistic, subtle, calm and little energetic…we didn’t want to make him too complicated and preferred being in the commercial zone,” he says.

On Pan-India releases and what it means for Indian cinema

Before Baahubali, which catapulted Prabhas into national recognition, he had dabbled in romance with Mr Perfect and Darling, revenge sagas like Mirchi, and potboilers like Ek Niranjan. When asked if he misses being in that space, the actor says, “That is why I have done Radhe Shyam. I want people to watch a love story with me. It is very important for me, my career. I am doing a comedy next. I want to change the image. But I am not missing what I did earlier because once you do Baahubali it is getting something more than what you wanted. So, I don’t miss it but yes, I want the audience to see that [side of me> again so I am planning my career that way,” he says.

Baahubali made the audience sit up and take notice of regional cinema. Talking about the changing dynamics in the film industry across, he says, “Now everybody is trying to make an Indian film. Every part of the country, every film industry – smallest industry to the biggest industry… because now they have understood that anyone can make it. KGF worked, KGF 2 is coming up, Pushpa  worked, we did Baahubali and we didn’t know it would be such a massive hit. Some people believed in KGF and some didn’t thinking it is Kannada, so how can it be pan India. But these films were considered Indian films, so the process is happening, the process has started.. More films like Baahubali should happen, or some film should come at this point because today we can’t say we are Telugu or Tamil or Hindi or Kannada or Malayalam…It is done, we are evolving. . Indian Cinema is becoming one. We are the only ones who have so many different languages, so many industries. But for films, it is one business and anyone can make a great film. It does not have to be Baahubali with great visuals. It can be a small film or a simple love story. We are also watching all language films on OTT, we are opening up,” he says.

On being called shy

Prabhas calls himself shy and socially awkward but he says he is getting more comfortable now, “Though I am sure it will take more time”. “Actually I talk a lot and I have a funny side, too. Every leading lady comes and says, ‘We have heard you don’t talk’ and the same thing happened with Deepika (Padukone). The problem is I don’t know how to start. But once I get comfortable, I enjoy my set, I play, I jump, I laugh, I can’t control my laughter. I also play pranks. I love people who are funny on set because then you get a lot of positive energy. A lot of my friends say I am a kid at heart,” he says.

“It was also difficult to romance for my films. I am comfortable romancing in studios but not on roads. But for a love story like Radhe Shyam I can’t say I won’t kiss. I am much more comfortable now in kissing scenes though I still have my reservations. But earlier if there was a kissing scene, I would get very anxious and stressed and would want to know when that scene is being filmed, how many people are going to be there in the room, it is better we do it inside the set and not outside… But Rajamouli sir made me remove my shirt in Chatrapathi in front of about 100 people, he can do anything,” he adds laughing.

He continues, “Until Baahubali 1 I wasn’t even comfortable with the Telugu press. Suddenly one day Rajamouli put me in front of 40 journalists and I couldn’t express myself in Telugu either. I was literally shocked while Rajamouli kept murmuring that we have made a good film so I shouldn’t stress. I told him perhaps only both of us are feeling that way but what is Bollywood thinking. But it was a bit comfortable during Part 2 because the film proved. I am not good at talking about big things,” adds Prabhas, who till date doesn’t watch his new release the first few days. “I switch off my phone the day my film releases. I always think that I will stay in Hyderabad and watch the film on the first day but it never happens. Once I tried when Rebel released. I was on the way to the theatre but midway I thought I would get a heart attack, so I went back home without watching it.”

But what makes him so simple and down-to-earth? “So far so good let me be like this,” he signs off laughing-out-loud.

Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff.

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