SS Rajamouli recalls shooting his ‘most violent’ scene with Jr NTR in Kerala

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Ace filmmaker SS Rajamouli known for his grand storytelling and large-scale cinema once dwelled into one of the most violent scenes of his career. It came early in his journey when he directed his second film, ‘Simhadri’, with Jr NTR. Recently, the ‘RRR’ director recalled shooting the film in Kerala and revealed that one of its major action sequences was filmed outside the Kerala Assembly.

SS Rajamouli recalls shooting Simhadri in Kerala

While speaking with Fahadh Faasil, SS Karthikeya, Sangeeth Prathap and Shyam Mohan during the promotions of his son SS Karthikeya’s upcoming production ‘Don’t Trouble The Trouble’, SS Rajamouli remembered his experience of shooting in Kerala.

Rajamouli shot a violent scene outside the assembly

“I shot Simhadri in Kerala. I don’t know whether it’s possible now or not, because we shot in front of the Assembly. We shot the hero running in front of the assembly with an axe and killing people.

I think we were here for about ten days,” he recalled.SS Karthikeya also shared that the sequence was possibly the “most violent” action episode the ‘Baahubali’ director had ever filmed.“I think that was his most violent action episode ever. I don’t think you have shot anything more violent than that afterwards. It was his most violent scene, and in front of the Assembly,” he said.Rajamouli agreed and replied, “Yeah, definitely.”

Why 'Simhadri' was shot in Trivandrum

When Fahadh asked Rajamouli why he chose Trivandrum as a location for the film, the filmmaker explained that the story required the hero to travel outside Andhra Pradesh.“In the story, he has to come out of Andhra and go to a separate place; we thought of Kerala. It all came with the word Singamalai. Actually, it’s a Tamil word, but at that time, we were like, people won’t know Tamil, Malayalam. So we just shot it,” he said, making everyone laugh.The Kerala portions became an important part of the film’s story and helped establish the identity of Simhadri’s alter ego, Singamalai.Released in 2003, ‘Simhadri’ is about an orphan raised by a landlord who secretly protects the landlord’s estranged granddaughter Indu. The film featured Jr NTR, Bhumika Chawla, Ankitha, Mukesh Rishi, Nassar and Rahul Dev.

SS Rajamouli’s next film ‘Varanasi’ with Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra

Meanwhile, SS Rajamouli is also working on his next grand project ‘Varanasi’ starring Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra and Prithiviraj Sukumaran. It is set to hit the release on April 7, 2027.