‘Baahubali The Epic is a celebration of cinema’: Annapurna Studios CTO CV Rao reveals it took 2 months to remaster film

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Annapurna Studios CTO, CV Rao, decodes the process of remastering Baahubali: The Epic ahead of its release.

SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) are getting a glitzy makeover as Baahubali: The Epic, hitting screens on October 31. The epic saga that introduced Prabhas to the world as a larger-than-life and gravity-defying warrior changed the face of Indian cinema in more ways than one. Annapurna Studios CTO CV Rao, the man behind the transformation of two films into a 3 hours and 44 minutes-long spectacle, talks to Hindustan Times about what went into making, what he calls a ‘celebration of cinema’.

CV Rao and Annapurna Studios worked with SS Rajamouli on the original Baahubali films too.

Remastering Baahubali: The Epic in 10 weeks was a challenge

Rao tells me that compressing two films into one was no mean feat, particularly when even something as the post-production workflow looked completely different to what it does now, a decade ago. “The producer (Shobu Yarlagadda) wanted the film to look brand new, and the two films combined are more than five hours long. We soon realised that working on a new film is easier, because when you remaster an old film, you may not achieve the same look it had years ago. It’s not better or worse; it’s just different, and it boils down to individual taste. It took us around 9 weeks just to recreate a master for the film in DI; whereas a new film would take just 4 weeks,” he explains.

Baahubali will be a whole new film now, as the sound and visuals have undergone a total overhaul, says the CTO. “When Baahubali first came out, each film took us four months of post-production. It took us approximately 10 weeks, or around 2 months, to complete the project this time around. But the bigger challenge for us was to deliver the output in multiple formats,” he says, adding, “Unlike the original Baahubali films, Baahubali: The Epic will be available in more formats, including IMAX, Dolby, Dbox, Pcx, 4dx, ICE immersive and Epic. It took us 2 weeks just to achieve the quality needed for Dolby. The film will also be presented in multiple aspect ratios like 1.9, 1.85, 2.39, which took 10 days to achieve.”

Baahubali: The Epic will be a whole new experience

Rao also states that, although the Baahubali films are much-loved, Baahubali: The Epic will offer a unique experience for the audience. “There’s no doubt that it’ll be a whole new experience visually because we’ve made improvements to the visual effects, colour and dynamics. The sound is now available on Dolby Atmos. People who like different formats will have all the more reason to watch it. That’s why I believe it’s going to be a celebration of cinema,” he says.

This is not the first time Rao has been instrumental in ensuring that a Rajamouli film achieves its full potential. He is the man who has been instrumental in bringing Dolby Cinema technology to India, despite a single cinema hall in India, City Pride in Pune, which is capable of projecting this quality. “I remember watching A Quiet Place in a Dolby Cinema theatre in Las Vegas before RRR and being blown away. I recommended to both Dolby and Rajamouli that RRR deserves this format. It was a major breakthrough when they agreed, and we could release it in this format abroad, if not in India. It was the first Indian film to be released in the format,” he says.

Since RRR, the studios have been instrumental in delivering this format for films like Pushpa 2, Devara, Kantara Chapter 1, Baahubali: The Epic, and even War 2, given that plans are in place for more Dolby Cinema-enabled theatres to emerge in India. As for what’s next for Annapurna Studios, Rao says, “We’re handling numerous big projects like Mahesh Babu’s SSMB 29, Prabhas’ Fauzi, Ram Charan’s Peddi and Jr NTR’s Dragon right now, apart from films in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. The aim now is to bring in international projects, too.”