Post the stupendous historical success of Baahubali, Prabhas is all set to star in a full-on Telugu action film called Saaho. Interestingly, this was a film he had committed to even before Baahubali.
“We are making the film exactly the way we had planned. There will be no changes. I narrated Saaho to Prabhas in January 2015, 6 months before the first part of Baahubali released. Even then, Prabhas was a big star. Of course now, he’s something else!” says director Sujeeth, who at 26, is not the least daunted by the responsibility of directing Prabhas in his post-Baahubali avatar.
Sujeeth recounts how he met Prabhas for Saaho. “It was the success party of my first feature film Run Raja Run, which had given the leading man Sharwanand a change of image. A lot of other Telugu heroes wanted a similar makeover from me. Prabhas, who was already a big star, approached me at the party. I didn’t take him seriously when he told me to write a film for him. I thought it was just social chitchat,” Sujeeth confesses.
He admits to starting work on Saaho half-heartedly and even abandoning plans halfway, dismissing it as casual party conversation. However, to his surprise, a few months later, Prabhas scolded him for his laxity!
That was when Sujeeth geared into action. He reveals that he wrote the second half of Saaho while on the way to narrate the film to Prabhas!
“I had worked out the script till the interval. Beyond that, I just made up the plot while reaching Prabhas’ house for narration. And I kept adding ideas as I narrated the film to him. Seeing Prabhas’ enthusiastic face during the narration, I was encouraged to innovate, and was reminded of the stories I used to tell my mother when I was a child,” he says.
“I thought I’d sell the screenplay to Prabhas’ producers who had earlier worked with him in Mirchi. It was Prabhas who suggested that I direct Saaho and that’s how I got my second film.” he adds.
“Before he left for the US on a break, he called me and said, ‘Don’t worry about anything. Let’s just make the film we decided to make, no more, no less.’ He hasn’t changed at all. And why should he?” he concludes.
