Here's why SS Rajamouli opted Sanjay Dutt to Sathyaraj in Baahubali series

SS Rajamouli's Baahubali had an ensemble cast. Not just the lead actors, other supporting roles had high scope for performance. Be it Sathyaraj's Kattappa or Ramya Krishnan's Sivagami, both the characters left a mark in the minds of the audience.

Interestingly, both Ramya Krishnan and Sathyaraj were not the first choice for the said roles. While it is well-known that SS Rajamouli had initially wanted Sridevi Kapoor for Sivagami's role, the ace filmmaker had Sanjay Dutt in mind for Kattappa's role.

This secret was revealed by SS Rajamouli's father and writer SS Vijayendra Prasad, recently. He has claimed in an interview that Sanjay Dutt was the first choice for the role of Kattappa. Unfortunately, the makers changed their plans since the Bollywood star was serving his jail term and the makers did not want to take any chance.

Hence, Sathyaraj was brought on board. The rest is history.

The popularity of Sathyaraj's role was such the people had debated on social media platforms on 'why did Katappa kill Baahubali' after the first installment was released in 2015.

In the case of Sridevi Kapoor, the actress had reportedly turned down the offer over remuneration issues.

SS Rajamouli's Baahubali series in a landmark movie in the Indian cinema. The movie was released in multiple languages and showcased the potential of pan-Indian films. It starred Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, and Tamannaah Bhatia in the leads.

The combined collections of the two movies were over Rs 2400 crore at the global box office.

Coming back to Sanjay Dutt, he lost the opportunity to enter the South Indian movies with the Baahubali series, but now making his debut with Yash's KGF 2.