67 Years Later Baahubali Has Beaten the Magic Created by Mughal-e-Azam on Screen: Karan Johar

Hyderabad: Filmmaker Karan Johar on Sunday thanked the makers of Baahubali for letting him being a small part of the project. He also said he doesn't even have ten percent of director SS Rajamouli's gumption.

Johar, who had acquired the theatrical rights of the Hindi version of Baahubali franchise which he will present under the banner of Dharma Productions, called it "probably the greatest film ever made".

At the pre-release event of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion at Ramoji Film City here, he said: "This is the biggest movie event in the history of Indian cinema and I have to say I'm amazed. This is pure dedication, pure strength and this is what I want to go back and teach."

At the event, a special audio-video on Johar's career was screened. He said he was "stumped".

"Baahubali, 67 years later, has beaten the magic created by Mughal-e-Azam on screen. Rajamouli's cinema has soul, his personality has gumption and I don't think I even have ten percent of it," he said. Johar later took to twitter to share a selfie with entire Baahubali team.

Producer Shobu Yarlagadda thanked Johar for helping them conquer one of the toughest industries (Bollywood) with Baahubali.

"We went to Karan Johar to take Baahubali out of Tollywood. When he saw the film, he could see the potential in it. Since he believed in the film and put his name on it, we could conquer Bollywood market. Thank you, Karan Johar, for being a part of this journey," Yarlagadda said, and added that the film wouldn't have happened if everybody didn't stick together for five years.

Starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah Bhatia, Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan and Sathyaraj, the film will release worldwide in IMAX on April 28.

With Prabhas and Rana as warring brothers fighting for an ancient kingdom, Baahubali 2 will finally shed light on why the character Kattappa killed Baahubali.

The trailer released a few days ago has received 100 million views across four languages- Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam. It has become the most viewed Indian film trailer on video sharing site YouTube.

Veteran Tamil actor Sathyaraj, who plays Kattappa in the franchise, finally revealed why he killed Baahubali. "Producer Shobu paid me very well to kill Prabhas. My director Rajamouli asked me to kill Baahubali, and I obliged. Why would I kill Prabhas otherwise?" he asked, with laughter. Sathyaraj also said that though he has starred in over 250 films, the world knows him as Kattappa.

Tamannaah, who plays princess Avantika in the film, said it's once in a lifetime experience to be part of Baahubali. She thanked Rajamouli for giving her the opportunity. "Though it's been two years since the release of first part, people are still excited as though it released last week," she said.

At the event, the film's audio was also launched. Composer MM Keeravani explained the music behind the trailer of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which has clocked over 100 million views.

Anushka said that each and every one of them got to learn something from each other while working on the project. "While all of us put in so much of effort in the film, Prabhas dedicated five years of his life. All of us are proud of him," she said.\

Rana, who plays Bhallala Deva in the film, said every minute of the last five years was close to his heart. He said that he will miss working on the project and that he would like to work as Prabhas' co-star in all the films.

Veteran actor Krishnam Raju said he would like to ask Steven Spielberg, who has made certain comments on Indian cinema, whether he has watched Baahubali.

When Rajamouli finally arrived on stage, he had a lot of people to thank. From policemen who helped the conduct the event smoothly to his crew members, he extended heartfelt gratitude.

He also thanked his wife Rama for being his support and keeping his grounded.

(All photos by Yogen Shah)