Ramya Krishnan was not the first choice to play Sivagami in 'Baahubali', reveals SS Rajamouli

Ramya Krishnan turned 53 today, on September 15. She is known for several performances in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and other language films. One of her career-defining roles was that of Sivagami in SS Rajamouli's 'Baahubali'. franchise. However, what is not known to many is that the role was initially offered to Sridevi.

The blockbuster series 'Baahubali' is one of the most popular films in the history of Indian cinema. It was recently revealed that Ramya Krishnan was not the first choice for the film, and that she was approached for it later. Ramya played the role of Sivagami, a formidable queen and matriarch, in 'Baahubali: The Beginning' and 'Baahubali: The Conclusion'.

In an earlier interview with ABN Telugu, director SS Rajamouli had revealed that he first approached the late actress Sridevi for the role of Sivagami. She reportedly asked for Rs 10 crore as her fees, a full hotel floor for her family and staff, and 10 flight tickets for them



from Mumbai to Hyderabad.

Rajamouli said, "After hearing a series of wishes from her (Sridevi), our team got fed up. We also thought that it would be above our budget to meet her demands. Then we approached Ramya Krishnan and she proved herself (to be) fantastic and we now feel we were lucky that we dropped the idea of having Sridevi in our film."

While promoting her last film 'MOM', Sridevi told NDTV Telugu that she was hurt by the kind of things she heard about herself. She said, "But, when you hear such things about yourself, you really get hurt. I don’t know if the producer incorrectly told Rajamouli that I made all these demands or there could have been some miscommunication."

Ramya Krishnan won acclaim for her performance in the film. 'Baahubali' also went on to break several box office records across the world. It also starred Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah Bhatia and Sathyaraj, among others.