Sri K. V. Vijayendra Prasad is one of the greatest living screenplay writers in the Indian film industry. Sri Prasad, who is S. S. Rajamouli’s father, has penned many classics, among which Bahubali happens to be one. My first meeting with him is still etched in my mind. It was his story I was going to rework and expand, and I was apprehensive about how he was going to take it. He was grace personified and the tips and advice he gave me on writing are more precious to me than anything I have ever achieved. I consider him my mentor and this book is my humble tribute to his art.
Prasad Devineni and Shobu Yerlaggada, the producers of Bāhubali, the film, and promoters of Arka Media deserve special mention for their unstinting belief and trust in my skills as an author. Bāhubali has gone much beyond a great film. It has become a global brand. I hope I have lived up to their expectations and hopefully added some more sheen to the brand. Having worked with many producers in the past, I can vouch for the fact that people who give complete freedom to the writer are rare to come by. Thank you, gentlemen, for being there to support and encourage me whenever I was assailed with self -doubt.
I had almost finished my fourth book, Devayani and was about to submit it to Westland when this amazing project came up. Gautam Padmanabhan, C E O of Westland, is more a friend than my publisher and it was he who advised me to shelve the book I had been working on for the last two years and take up the Bāhubali trilogy. His enthusiasm gave me confidence and if not for his support, I would not have finished the entire book—including plotting, planning, drafting and revising—in 109 days.
I should thank my editors, Sanghamitra Biswas and Deepthi Talwar for the mammoth effort they put in to edit the book at a blistering pace. They deserve special thanks for putting up with a writer who was assailed with insecurities and who kept harassing them every hour with a new rewrite. The stunning cover and the maps were designed by Vishwanath Sundaram, the graphic designer and VFX artist of Arka Media. He was assailed by two perfectionists, S. S. Rajamouli and yours truly for even minute detail and he has done amazing work. Thank you for the great piece of art.
Krishna Kumar and Neha of Westland deserve a special mention for all the public relationship work they have done for me. Arunima arranged for some fascinating interviews. I am grateful to the press and TV journalists too for the extensive coverage of the book.
Preetam of Arka Media who handled the social media campaigns along with Hemal Majithia and his team in Oktobuzz Media deserve special thanks.
My friends often say, my better half, Aparna deserves a Nobel prize for tolerating me. Thank you for being there, my dear. It may be a great trial to live through my mood swings, but after more than 15 years, I am sure you are used to it. My children Ananya and Abhinav have been my greatest critics and inspiration. They bring me down to earth often from my flights of fantasy. And my pet dog Jackie deserves a special mention, as he was the one who often heard my stories during our long walks together.
My extended family have always stood by me, even when I wrote books that challenged their beliefs and convictions. They have been my source of inspiration from childhood. My siblings Lokanathan, Rajendran and Chandrika, my in-laws, Parameswaran, Meenakshi and Radhika, and my niece and nephews, Divya, Dileep and Rakhi have always made our family get-togethers lively with many debates about the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
My friends for more than three decades, Rajesh Rajan, Santosh Prabhu and Sujith Krishnan; other friends like Sidharth Bharatan, Jayan CA and Venkatesh Satish Lolla and Anubhooti Panda who was my beta reader of various drafts all deserve special thanks for keeping me inspired. My batchmates of EEE 1996, from The Government Engineering college, Trichur, especially Cina, Gayatri, Ganesh, Malathi and Maya who have read some of my works and Mathew, Gopu Keshav, Anjali, Brinda and Habibulla Khan who have never read and are never going to read any of my works but still encourage me to write, all deserve my heartfelt gratitude.
My special thanks to all the readers of my last three books. Your words of criticism, praise and suggestions have been my inspiration and the reason I continue to write.
Table of Contents
Cover
Frontispiece
Author Bio
Also by Anand Neelakantan
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Foreword
Dramatis personae
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
Acknowledgements
The Rise of Sivagami : Book 1 of Baahubali - Before the Beginning Page 40
