S. S. Rajamouli, the creator of the Baahubali franchise, has finally revealed why Tamannaah Bhatia’s love song and several other romantic portions were removed from the newly edited version, Baahubali: The Epic. The film, which combines both Baahubali parts into a single narrative, required major trimming to maintain pace and coherence.
Rajamouli explained that when the two films were merged into one, the total runtime initially crossed five hours. Even after removing the opening and end credits of both films, the combined cut was still too long to be released in theatres. To ensure a tighter and more engaging viewing experience, the team decided to reduce the runtime dramatically.
During this process, certain romantic tracks, including Tamannaah Bhatia’s love song with Prabhas, were among the sequences removed. Rajamouli noted that while these scenes had emotional value in the original version, they slowed down the narrative flow when presented as a single movie. Hence, the focus shifted to maintaining the core storyline and speeding up the pace.
He clarified that the intention was not to downplay any character but to create a more compact film that today’s audience could experience in one sitting. Fans of the franchise, however, have shown mixed reactions. While some viewers are nostalgic about the original songs and wish they were retained, others feel the new version works better as a fast-paced epic.
With Baahubali: The Epic now running in theatres, audiences are experiencing a fresh, streamlined version of the iconic story crafted by Rajamouli.
