Shobu Yarlagadda wanted Jason Momoa to play Bhallaladeva in Baahubali: Rana Daggubati

According to actor Rana Daggubati, Shobu Yarlagadda, who has produced Baahubali jointly with Prasad Devineni, wanted the Game Of Thrones star Jason Momoa to play the role of Bhallaladeva in the Baahubali films.

Rana is busy promoting Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which is scheduled to be released in the theatres on April 28. In an interview, the actor was talking about the inspiration for his role, when he revealed the producer's wish to rope in Jason Momoa, who played Khal Drogo on Game Of Thrones.

The actor said he is a big fan of Daniel Day-Lewis. "In the last couple of years, the biggest inspiration for me was Daniel Day-Lewis and I'm a huge fan of all his films. I remember watching Gangs Of New York and undergoing an overwhelming feeling that Leonardo Di Caprio might lose his life when he goes to meet Daniel Day-Lewis. That's the kind of emotion that I wanted to translate into Bhallaladeva," Rana said in an interview with Firstpost.

Meanwhile, the actor revealed the vision of Shobu Yarlagadda. "Not many people know this, but one of the actors whom Shobu (one of the producers of Baahubali) had in mind to play Bhallaladeva was Jason Momoa, who played Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones. When Shobu told me about this, I thought, "Ah, great! It's Khal Drogo and me in that order," he said.

But he revealed there is no match between Bhallaladeva and Khal Drogo. "When you look at Khal Drogo, you know that he's there in Game Of Thrones for a specific purpose, and you don't have to emotionally connect with him. But Bhallaladeva is a brother, he's a son and he's wishful for his throne. He cares for his people. It also helps that Rajamouli is very clear about what he wants from the characters," he added.

However, Khal Drogo is a fictional character in George RR Martin fantasy novels series A Song of Ice and Fire, which had its television adaptation of Game of Thrones. Drogo is a powerful khal, or warlord, of the Dothraki people, a tribal nation of horse riders in the steppes beyond the Free Cities.