SS Rajamouli, the three-time National Film Award winner, Padma Shree recipient, and director, is known for his storytelling. He is one of the ‘star directors’ of our country like Mani Ratnam, Rajkumar Hirani, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Puri Jagannadh, Karan Johar, Sukumar, Rohit Shetty, Zoya Akhtar, and Shankar – whose names on the posters are always a size bigger than the norm – reflecting their pull and reach. Be it the Baahubali franchise or his latest RRR, each of his movies has created history at the box office. Not a single flop shadows his filmography, which goes all the way back to 2001.
With his early films in the Telugu and Tamil industries (the latter through dubs), Rajamouli established himself as a big name. However, it took the Baahubali franchise for the North-Indian audience to recognize his talent and take his art more seriously. Before Baahubali: The Beginning, Hindi-speaking belts only had access to his films in roundabout ways – Vikramarkudu (2006) remade as Rowdy Rathore (2012), Magadheera (2009) being similar to Raabta (2017), and Maryada Ramanna (2010) reworked as Son of Sardaar (2012).
With his 2012 release Eega starring Nani, who was a CGI fly for most of the film, Rajamouli tried something unique. The film was dubbed in Hindi and was remade as Makkhi eventually.
His recent release RRR is one of the most expensive Indian movies ever made on the budget of Rs 400 crores. It has already grossed Rs 500 crores worldwide. The film featuring Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Ajay Devgn, and Alia Bhatt, is receiving rave reviews and Rajamouli is being applauded for his grand vision. While Rajamouli is known for RRR and Bahubali, there is more to his filmography. Check out some of his best movies that deserve your attention:
Eega
SS Rajamouli experimented with this bilingual movie as the story revolved around a fly. In the film, Nani loves Bindu but is murdered by Sudeep who lusts her. Now Nani is reborn as a fly who seeks revenge. The movie was released in multiple languages and was later remade into Makkhi. The film is streaming on Disney+Hotstar.
Magadheera
RRR is not the first collaboration between Rajamouli and Ram Charan. In 2019, the two have worked in Magadheera which revolved around the theme of reincarnation. It also featured Kajal Agarwal, Dev Gill, Sunil Verma, Brahmanandam, Rao Ramesh, Sarath Babu, and Raghumudri Srihari. The movie was quite a success at the box office and holds a record for the longest-running movie at 1000 days. In the film, Harsha is falsely framed for killing Indu’s father. He sets out to clear his name only to recall his life from 400 years ago and realise that all this is connected to his past life. The film is streaming on MX Player.
Chatrapathi
This one is another Prabhas and SS Rajamouli masterpiece. The plot revolves around a protagonist who is a displaced Sri Lankan living in a Vizag port, ruled and oppressed by a local rowdy. The protagonist tries to fight back and reunite with his long-lost family. The film is streaming on Disney+Hotstar and MX Player.
Vikramarkudu
Starring Ravi Teja, Anushka Shetty, Annie, Brahmanandam among others, Vikramarkudu shows how a police officer joins hands with a small-time thief who looks similar to him. The story is a tale of revenge on the part of the policeman. The film is streaming on Zee5, Disney+Hotstar.
Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
Baahubali is a tale of two cousins in the Kingdom of Mahishmati. Balla fights his way with cousin Baahubali for the throne. Prabhas as Baahubali certainly stole a lot of hearts and they waited for almost two years for Baahubali 2: The Conclusion to know “Katappa ne bahubali ko kyon mara?” The film is streaming on Netflix.
(Featured Image Credits: Instagram)
