Telugu actor Prabhas was recently seen shaking a leg with Sonakshi Sinha in Bollywood film "Action Jackson" and this sequence was reportedly meant to launch the campaign of "Baahubali" in B-Town.
SS Rajamouli's magnum opus "Baahubali" simultaneously released in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and few other foreign languages. While Rana Daggubati, who is playing one of the two male leads in it, is already a known face to Hindi audience, makers of the film wanted to introduce Prabhas before its release.
"The decision to launch Prabhas in the Hindi industry was taken by the core team without giving much thought, hoping that the Ajay Devgn-starrer would make it easy for launching Baahubali's campaign in Bollywood," The Times of India quoted a source close to the production house as saying.
With "Action Jackson" bombing at the box office, his cameo appearance has failed to get much needed attention. "But to their shock, director Prabhudheva (who is a good friend of Prabhas) delivered a dud and worse, Prabhas' dance moves went unnoticed," the source added.
"We thought, if the audience in the Hindi belt become aware of Prabhas, just as they are aware of Rana who has earlier acted in a few Hindi movies, then it would be easier to market Baahubali. These actors could open up Bollywood to recover part of the huge investment on Baahubali," the source further told TOI.
"Baahubali", which is produced by Shobu Yarlagadda, is being made with a whopping budget of over ₹150 crore. It is a historical drama film and is being released in two parts. The distribution rights of the movie have already been sold for record-breaking prices. The makers do not want to incur losses to the distributors, who have bought its rights.
The producers of "Baahubali" are now on a look out for a unique strategy to get attention of Hindi audience for the movie. "Now, that this plan has gone kaput we have to think of alternative ways to market the movie in the Hindi belt," the source added.
