Ram Gopal Varma says SS Rajamouli made filmmakers believe they could recover the costs: ‘The entire Telugu cinema cannot take the full credit’

Tollywood experienced great success at the box office with blockbuster hits like ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ and ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ last year, but filmmaker SS Rajamouli, who made the concept of pan-Indian cinema possible for small-scale industries with the success of the ‘Baahubali’ franchise, holds a special place in the growth of the industry. Now, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma sees things from a different perspective and addresses how Rajamouli changed the mindset of directors in India.
In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Ram Gopal shared his opinion on the idea of attributing the success of Telugu cinema to a single year. He explained that the filmmaking process takes several years, and despite producing around 150 films, only a few make an impact. Varma raised the question of what happens to the others that don’t gain the same attention or success.

Varma didn’t stop there, offering his take on the towering influence of SS Rajamouli in shaping the path of Telugu cinema. “In fact, I’d go on to say that the entire Telugu cinema cannot take the full credit. It is one man… SS Rajamouli. He could have been from Tamil cinema or Malayalam, or even Gujarati. It is just a coincidence that he is from Telugu cinema. He made ‘Baahubali’ and set an important benchmark,” RGV acknowledged. He further elaborated that ‘Baahubali’ wasn’t just about the grandeur, but it made filmmakers believe that budgets could be recovered.

Ram discussed how many filmmakers attempted to replicate the success of ‘Baahubali’, but failed to achieve similar results. He pointed out that while ‘Baahubali’ proved that audiences expect high production values from big films, merely having grand visuals, special effects, and lavish sets is not enough. Varma highlighted that the makers of the franchise were able to take bold risks because of Rajamouli’s earlier success with ‘Magadheera’.
He credited Rajamouli for inspiring confidence in filmmakers, stating, “Filmmakers started to believe that if they spent enough money on making a great movie, they could recover the costs.” He believes that the ‘Eega’ director gave that confidence to filmmakers.