Sridevi's death: Baahubali director SS Rajamouli hails the lady superstar's 50-year filmy journey

Baahubali director SS Rajamouli, who had a fall out with actress Sridevi after she rejected Baahubali, said he was shocked to hear the news about her death and hailed her 50-year journey in the film industry.

Soon after the news of Sridevi's death broke, SS Rajamouli took to his Twitter handle to express his shock. The Baahubali director wrote, "Shocked to hear the sad news. The first Lady Superstar of the Country. 50 of those 54 years as an actress par excellence. What a journey..and such an unexpected end. May your soul rest in peace. Sridevi garu "

SS Rajamouli created history with Baahubali movies and the character of Rajamata Sivagami is one of the attractions of these movies. Not many might know the fact that the director had approached Sridevi first for the role. He had to choose Ramya Krishnan after things did not fall into place. The rest is history-- the strong character of Sivagami and her dialogues created sensation.

However, during the promotions of Baahubali 2, SS Rajamouli had spoken about his plans to rope in Sridevi for the role of Rajamata Sivagami. The director said that his team could not rope in the actress who had set big demands to play the role. He had also revealed the details of her costly demands.

"Sridevi asked for Rs 8 crore. Apart from that, she wanted five business class tickets whenever she had to fly to Hyderabad and back. And five business suites were also asked at the biggest hotel in Hyderabad for her entourage during their stay. She even wanted a share in the Hindi version of the film," Indiatimes quoted Rajamouli as saying.

SS Rajamouli courted a controversy with this statement, which created a lot of buzz in the media. Upset by the director's statement, Sridevi had said: "I was shocked and hurt by his interview. Rajamouli is a calm and dignified person. I was very happy to (have got a chance to) work with him. But, the way he spoke about the issue made me feel very sad."

Finally, SS Rajamouli realized the sensitivity of his comments and regretted it. "As for whose version to believe, I guess it is for people to decide. But one thing is for sure. I shouldn't have discussed the details on a public platform. That's a mistake. And I regret it," DNA quoted the director as saying.

Baahubali actors Prabhas and Rana Daggubati also expressed their shock and grief over the untimely death of Sridevi.

Prabhas tweeted, "Deeply saddened by the news this morning. She was an impeccable performer and timeless beauty. The magical SRIDEVI ERA will be remembered forever.. My heartfelt condolences to her family. Rest in peace. - #Prabhas via fb #RIPSridevi

Rana Daggubati tweeted, "Form a Child Artist to a Legendary to Movie Star!! A great journey of one of the most charismatic women in the world of cinema comes to an end. #RIPSridevi"