Sanjay Dutt, who was the first choice for Kattappa in Baahubali could not do it for this reason

Prabhas-starrer Baahubali was released in 2015 and is one of the iconic movies with a huge fan following. Who can forget Kattappa, one of the most important roles played by Sathyaraj? But did you know he wasn’t the first choice? The makers wanted Sanjay Dutt but he couldn’t make it as he was in jail. V. Vijayendra Prasad, father of director SS Rajamouli, shared this information.

Speaking to Rediff in 2020, Prasad said that while Prabhas had been their first choice to play Baahubali, they considered Sanjay Dutt to play Kattappa. “Only for Kattappa, we thought of Sanjay Dutt. But what comes next is dangerous because he is still in jail. The next choice is Satyaraj,” he said.

In the same interview, he mentioned, “I didn’t tell him the story, I just told him (Rajamouli) that a foreigner came to India and saw an old man teaching swordsmanship to young students. The foreigner was impressed, Claiming that the old man was the best swordsman in the area. The old man refuted his claim by telling him the story of Baahubali. He told him that as long as Baahubali had a sword, no one could harm him. He and 200 men fought and killed them all. By night, he was covered in blood, but not a drop of blood was his. When the foreigner said he wanted to meet Baahubali, the old man said he was already dead. The foreigner did not Understand how this is possible. Then the old man said that backstabbing was a more powerful weapon and told the foreigners that he was the one who backstabbed Baahubali. Another scene I narrated was of a mother wading through a river holding a child River, which ended up being a powerful opening scene for the series. He told me to put it all together and weave a story. We spent about four to five months developing the script.”

On the work front, Sanjay Dutt will reportedly star in ‘Hera Pheri 3’ alongside Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Suniel Shetty. He also has Welcome to the Jungle on his kitty.