The Baahubali film series, which completed 10 years this year, remains one of the most iconic roles of the career of Ramya Krishnan who plays Sivagami. During a recent public appearance, Ramya Krishnan spoke about how she had almost rejected the iconic role at first.

During her appearance on the talk show Jayammu Nischayammu Raa with Jagapathi Babu,  Ramya Krishnan recalled that she had almost rejected Baahubali when she was first offered the film. Remembering that it was producer Shobu Yarlagadda who had first called her with the offer, Ramya noted, “When Shobu Yarlagadda gaaru called me, he told me that I would be required to shoot for 40 days for the film. My first response was, ‘40 days of shoot? Sorry Shobu sir, I can’t do it,’ and I hung up nervously.” The actor also mentioned that she had no idea about the scale or storyline of Baahubali at the time. “All I knew was that it’s a big-budget film, that’s it,” she added.

On a more serious note, Ramya Krishnan recalled the experience of playing the royal princess Sivagami, especially the emotional power of the sequences where she had to sit with a baby in her lap. “When I did all those dramatic scenes with a baby in my lap, I actually felt like a Rajmata myself!”

The Baahubali film series was the first proper collaboration between Ramya Krishnan and SS Rajamouli. She had earlier made a guest appearance in Rajamouli’s 2003 actioner Simhadri in the song ‘Chinnadamme Cheekulu'. 

Meanwhile, the makers of Baahubali are currently busy with the grand re-release plans of their film series on a global scale, planning the release as one combined feature (with the title Baahubali: The Epic) with a duration of 3 hours 45 minutes, also containing a few additional scenes that weren’t a part of either of the films earlier.

The premieres of the same are being planned for October 29, and the film will hit theatres on a wide scale on October 31.