saaho Verdict: Flop

Prabhas starrer Saaho, touted as the biggest actioner in India, is red hot in trade circles with its unprecedented pre release business deals in all territories. The film is also setting new benchmarks in terms of digital rights.

Telugu360 has exclusively learnt that the digital rights of Saaho have been snapped for a humongous 42 Crores by Amazon Prime. The deal includes the digital rights big Telugu Tamil and Malayalam languages. This is an all time record by a large margin. This is a clear testimony for the craze surrounding Saaho beyond Telugu states. Made on a staggering budget of 300 Crores, UV Creations has recouped a majority of its investment through its strong pre release business all over the world.

The impressive teasers and trailers with extravagant visuals have augmented the expectations on the film. Directed by Sujeeth, the film is slated for release on August 30th.

Telugu actor Prabhas became a global star after the blockbuster success of the “Baahubali” films, is back with his new film “Saaho”, which promises to be an extravagant action thriller and is rumoured to be made at a budget of Rs 350 crore.

Going by the trailer of his new film, Prabhas is back to playing the larger-than-life hero in “Saaho”, after the “Baahubali” series. The actor says he is comfortable portraying such an image.

“I am quite confident doing action and giving silent expressions as well as close-up shots. I go easy with the swagger and convey a lot with my eyes. I am not that confident with my dialogue delivery and am constantly working on that,” Prabhas revealed to IANS, on how he goes about creating the alpha male image for the screen.

Considering his last release, “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” ended up one of the highest-grossing Indian films ever, Prabhas concedes he was careful about what to do next. Initially, he has toyed with the idea of signing a small and easy film, to have some stress-free time.

“I was looking for a different script after ‘Baahubali’ and I wanted to do something small. If we look at the magnitude of ‘Baahubali’, honestly speaking, it is not possible for an actor to deliver every film at such a level. It is too much of a pressure and the risk was huge. We shot for the two ‘Baahubali’ films over five years. It was exhausting, though the final product was grand. So, initially I wanted to do something easy-breezy,” he said.

However, when the script of ‘Saaho’ came up, the actor could not resist. He also mentioned that the budget of his new film eventually increased to create all the grandeur.

“we started planning the film with a budget of 150 crore rupees. Then slowly we developed the script and especially the action sequences, and that made us expand the budget to 350 crore rupees. We cannot deliver a bad quality of VFX�we are looking for excellence.”

The film ‘Saaho’ directed by Sujeeth, featuring Jackie Shroff, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mahesh Manjerekar, Murli Sharma, Chunkey Pandey among others.

“Saaho” has been simultaneously shot in Telugu and Hindi, and Prabhas says he had to constantly adapt to the two versions, particularly when it came to dialogue delivery.

“There are differences I had to keep in mind as an actor. For example, in a south Indian language, say in Telugu, the emotion inherent in a sentence normally comes at in the end of the line, while in Hindi you express the emotion with every word. The flow of the language is different and my expression had to be in sync with the words. It is a technical thing but I had to get it right,” he pointed out.

Language, Prabhas says, was a challenge. “I was born in Tamil Nadu, so I am familiar with the Tamil language but Hindi was a first-time experience for me. This was the first time I was shooting a film in Hindi, so I consciously put extra effort. It is upto the audience to decide now, though our whole unit felt my Hindi is good,” he said.

Starting his career in 2003 with the Telugu film “Eeswar”, Prabhas has done several films in Telugu but recognition came only after the “Baahubali” series.

What does he look for in a script now? “For me, the story has to be engaging and the treatment of the story has to be designed to entertain the audience. It is not star power (that I look at). Rather, I look at my character in the film as secondary because the script is what we are contributing to. In ‘Baahubali’, too, the global appreciation happened because of the way (directior) Rajamouli garu treated the story with grandeur. It was a story of our superhero, an Indian story,” said Prabhas.

‘Saaho’ is one of the most technically-advanced films ever produced in India. The film has been shot with IMAX cameras and has the look and feel of a Hollywood film. Does that snatch away an element of Indianness from the film?

“What we saw in (the action sequences) ‘Baahubali’ was a combination of action and dance choreography, and that is why there was a different kind of grace in those scenes. ‘Saaho’ is a regular film, with some stylish and slick action choreography. We are not trying to compete with Hollywood because they are much advanced than us, but it is true that we are capable of delivering something at par with international standard. We have the talent but in Indian films, we haven’t tried this level of action and VFX. So, for the mass audience in India, we are giving something that is new and technologically advanced. “For the rest, it is upto the audience to decide. As for me, as the release date approaches, my stress level is going higher!” he smiled.

“Saaho”, directed by Sujeeth, also stars Shraddha Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Neil Nitin Mukhesh in key roles. The film releases on August 30.

Tollywood hunk Prabhas has droolworthy appearance that will send his die-hard fans into a tizzy. In his upcoming film Saaho, which is creating huge waves across the country, the Baahubali actor is expected to flaunt his brawny avatar in the action episodes. A new poster which has been unveiled by the makers of Saaho hint the same.

The new swashbuckling poster has Prabhas in a badass avatar flaunting his muscles and he is seen wielding a machine gun aiming at his adversaries. Saaho is billed as the biggest actioner in India and the trailers filled with breathtaking chase sequences have already set a high bar on the film. Directed by Sujeeth, the film has an ensemble cast from Bollywood and South India.

Saaho is set for a massive release on August 30th. UV Creations has bankrolled it with 300 Crores budget.

Saaho is one of the most awaited films that will release during this season in the country. The trailer and the songs already caught everyone’s attention and the expectations crossed the skies. The makers are said to have left uncompromised when it came to the quality of the film. For example, a special number ‘Bad Boys’ was canned on Prabhas and Jacqueline Fernandez across the beautiful locales of Austria for a week.

The makers were not convinced with the quality and output of a shot and it took four complete days for them to get satisfied. Now the released video byte received top class response from the audience from all the corners. The visuals of the song came out really well which is a clear indication that UV Creations had no compromise on the quality. The film directed by Sujeeth is hitting the screens on August 30th and Shraddha Kapoor is the leading lady.

Considering so many top heroines like Kajal Agarwal, Alia Bhatt and others, finally Prabhas and his Saaho director Sujith have roped in Jacqueline Fernandez for a special song in the film. This is not a usual item song but looks like the hero’s introduction song in the movie.

The video song titled ‘Bad Boy’ that was screened at the pre-release event of “Saaho” has excited fans for two reasons. One is that Prabhas is shown as a playboy yet again, at least in this song, and then there is this hotness poured from Srilankan origin Australian hottie Jacky. Leaving Prabhas aside, it’s her amazing curves that are on display, which got all the attention.

Though it’s not the first time that Jacqueline has flaunted her sizzling figure for the silver screen, it is the first time Telugu audiences will be looking at her in awe. While the songs lack that pep, it is her sensuous look that is gonna make this song serve its purpose.

Telugu superstar Prabhas’ multilingual comeback film “Saaho” is all set to release in IMAX format, besides the regular 2d format.

The IMAX version of “Saaho” will open not only in India, but all across the globe. The film will be digitally re-mastered in the immersive IMAX format for all markets.

While it has become a common practice to release Hollywood films in IMAX screens, the trend is not yet prevalent among Indian filmmakers, particularly the ones in Bollywood. “Dhoom 3”, “Gold” and “2.0” have been among few Indian films to have had an IMAX release.

“We are thrilled to partner with UV-Creations and T-Series on the release of Saaho, a pulse-pounding, non-stop action epic that deserves to be experienced in IMAX,” Megan Colligan, President of IMAX Entertainment and Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp said.

“Saaho” is scheduled to release in three languages — Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. The film is directed by Sujeeth, and co-stars Shraddha Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Jackie Shroff in key roles. The film is scheduled to open on August 30.

“Saaho” is Telugu superstar Prabhas’ first release since his blockbuster “Bahubali” series.