Prabhas is a shy and reticent star. He is on Facebook but his posts are rather infrequent. So on the rare occasions when he speaks, his fans listen. Nearly a month after his last post, Prabhas has mentioned that he has begun shooting for his next film, Saaho. In a Facebook post, he writes: “Its Shoot Time.... Almost after 4 and half years of Baahubali journey, excited to enter a new action world called Saaho...”
Saaho, a Telugu-Hindi bilingual, is the next film Prabhas will be seen in after the release of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion in April this year. Saaho’s universe is said to be very different from the one of Baahubali. If SS Rajamouli’s fantasy drama was about a noble man fighting for good and taking on his own blood, Saaho is expected to be a gritty, urban crime-cum-action drama that plays out in modern times. One can expect that the difference between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ will blur to an extent here.
Soon after Baahubali 2 released, Prabhas went to the US, away from all the craze, hype and hoopla around the film. He returned only in June when the frenzy had died down.
Saaho, meanwhile, has been making news for interesting reasons -- first, there was much talk about Prabhas, darling to his Telugu fans, being paired with Anushka Shetty for a fifth time. Given how successful this pairing has been in the past (with strong dating rumours to boot), there was considerable excitement among the fans of the duo. Sadly, that came a cropper as Anushka could not manage to give dates since she was already committed to a big budget Tamil film from before.
Neil Nitin Mukesh was finalised by the makers to star as the antagonist in Saaho.
But it is the casting of the female lead that again took centre-stage. Sometime in the beginning of August came the first rumours that Bollywood star Shraddha Kapoor has been zeroed in to star opposite Prabhas. On August 16, came the confirmation that she has indeed been added to the Saaho cast, though she came with a hefty pay package. She will reportedly be paid Rs 5 crore for the film.
Meanwhile, Prabhas who was given Rs 25 crore for the Baahubali franchise, now charges Rs 30 crore as his remuneration.
Follow @htshowbiz for more
