A major portion of the love story between Prabhas’s Shiva and Tamannaah Bhatia’s Avanthika has been trimmed from Baahubali: The Epic, said director S.S. Rajamouli in a recent interview.
Shared by the makers on Wednesday, the one-hour-eight-minute-long chat also features actors Prabhas and Rana Daggubati.
“The main scenes we trimmed were...the whole Avanthika love story,” said Rajamouli.
The 52-year-old filmmaker added that three songs — Pacha Bottasi, Kannaa Nidurinchara, and Manohari — were also removed from the film to reduce the runtime from 5 hours 27 minutes to 3 minutes 43 seconds.
The re-edited version of Baahubali will hit screens on October 31.
Directed by S. S. Rajamouli, Baahubali: The Beginning features Prabhas in a dual role alongside Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishna, Sathyaraj, Nassar and Tamannaah. It is the first film of the duology that concludes with Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.
The film follows Shiva (Prabhas), an adventurous young man who assists his love Avanthika (Tamannaah) in rescuing Devasena (Anushka), the former queen of Mahishmati from the tyrannical rule of King Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati). The story was continued in the second instalment.
Baahubali 2 focusses on the rivalry between siblings Amarendra Baahubali (Prabhas) and Bhallaladeva (Daggubati). Bhallaladeva schemes against Amarendra, leading to his death at the hands of Kattappa. Years later, Amarendra's son (Sivudu) resolves to avenge his father's death.
Released theatrically on July 10, 2015, Baahubali: The Beginning emerged as the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year, earning Rs 650 crore gross worldwide, according to trade reports.
Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) will be stitched together into one epic saga of power play, jealousy and revenge in the re-edited version.