Bāhubali: The Epic

“Mahishmati, But Make It Messy”: The Real-Life Drama Behind Baahubali: The Epic (2025)

When Baahubali: The Epic stormed back into theaters in 2025, it promised one giant, polished dose of nostalgia. What it ALSO delivered? A fresh wave of controversy, old wounds reopened, and more off-screen drama than a Kattappa confession. Let’s unsheathe the gossip sword.

On-Set Drama & The Scenes Rajamouli Buried

The “new” Epic is really Rajamouli’s giant scissors at work — and the edits are pure drama fuel.

• A major chunk of Shivudu–Avanthika romance was chopped out, including the entire song “Pacha Bottesina,” the tattoo scene, and the disrobing/“makeover” moments that had already been called out for romanticizing non‑consensual behavior .
• Director SS Rajamouli admitted that if both original parts ran together, the film would be 5 hours 27 minutes; the 2025 cut slims it to around 3 hours 43 minutes by axing romance and even bits of the big war sequences ^[1].
• The original Avanthika track was so controversial a decade ago that critic Anna M.M. Vetticad literally titled her essay “The Rape of Avanthika,” arguing the film sends the dangerous message that women’s “no” actually means “try harder” ^[1].
• In 2025, Tamannaah Bhatia clapped back, insisting the scene isn’t assault at all but Avanthika “finding herself through a young man” and calling the backlash the product of sexual repression: if people think it’s dirty, “that’s all they will see” ^[1]. Feminist writers and film scholars promptly re‑dragged the debate, calling her take “inexplicable and absurd” and doubling down that the act is still non‑consensual, makeover or not ^[1].

Result: Mahishmati got a “cleaner” cut — and a dirtier discourse.

Cast Feuds & Missing Queens

At the big 10‑year Baahubali reunion in July 2025, the boys’ club rolled deep: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, SS Rajamouli, MM Keeravaani and Ramya Krishnan all posed for cozy nostalgia pics . But fans noticed something… or rather, someone.

• Both leading ladies, Anushka Shetty (Devasena) and Tamannaah Bhatia (Avanthika), were MIA. Not a frame, not a Zoom cameo, nothing ^[4].
• The official posts were flooded with comments like “Where’s our Devasena?” and “I wish Tamannaah Bhatia and Anushka Shetty were also there!” ^[4].
• No official reason was given, and neither actress rushed to explain the no‑show. Rumor-wise, fans speculate everything from scheduling issues to a quiet chill between the women and the core team — especially with Tamannaah being at the center of the Avanthika controversy and Anushka long dodging relentless Prabhas romance questions.

No hard proof of a feud, but for the franchise’s two central women to skip the decade celebration? That’s the kind of silence that screams.

Romance Rumors: Prabhas & Anushka, Forever “Just Friends”

The Baahubali re‑cut may have trimmed the romance on screen, but off screen the shipping refuses to die.

• In March 2025, Prabhas once again shut down talk that he and Anushka Shetty were (or are) dating, saying they’re very close but not a couple — essentially, “How can I date her?” .
• While shippers were still editing fan‑cams, reports in Indian media claimed Prabhas’ family had secretly fixed his marriage with a Hyderabad businessman’s daughter, explicitly not Anushka . Unconfirmed, but it blew up enough to inspire explainers on “the truth behind the speculation” ^[10].
• Parallel to this, Anushka’s own wedding rumors surged again in 2026, with viral posts claiming she’s finally marrying a businessman at 44 — promptly denied by her team as baseless chatter .

Meanwhile, one romance definitely ended: Tamannaah Bhatia and Vijay Varma reportedly split in early 2025 after about two years together, with gossip pages and Reddit threads pointing to arguments and even cheating rumors as the cause . Perfect timing for everyone to project extra drama onto Avanthika’s banished love story.

Scandals & Lawsuits: Rajamouli vs. The World

While The Epic was unspooling on IMAX screens, its director was stuck in very non‑mythological headlines.

• In February 2025, Telugu technician Uppalapati Srinivasa Rao filed a complaint accusing SS Rajamouli of harassment, “toxic leadership,” and sabotaging his career. In a deeply disturbing video and note cited in coverage, Rao claimed: “I have no option but to die by suicide. Rajamouli is the reason I am still single at 55.”
• He alleged that after working with Rajamouli up to Yamadonga, a falling‑out “over a woman” led to his professional downfall and personal isolation ^[3].
• Police reportedly asked for solid proof; as of that reporting, Rajamouli had not commented publicly, and the claims remain unproven ^[3].
• Later in 2025, Rajamouli walked into yet another storm when, at the **launch of his next film Varanasi, tech glitches sent him into an emotional rant where he said he didn’t believe in God** and questioned if Lord Hanuman was really “guiding” him .
• Hindu groups Vanarasena and Gow Rakshak Sangh promptly filed police complaints accusing him of hurting religious sentiments and “intentionally insulting Hindu deities” ^[5].
• The irony of the Baahubali guy — whose brand is god‑tier mythic cinema — being attacked for atheism was not lost on social media.

Moral of the story: you can re‑edit a film, but you can’t re‑edit your headline history.

Leaks, “Baahubali 3” Chaos & Wild Fan Theories

You can’t keep a franchise this big contained to one “Epic.”

• Industry pieces teased that Baahubali: The Epic would feature unseen footage from the original shoots, sparking fan hunts for every micro‑difference on OTT and in theaters .
• On Facebook and elsewhere, “leaked” Baahubali 3 material went viral, claiming Varun Dhawan had been cast as the next‑gen Baahubali opposite Janhvi Kapoor as Devasena, with Anushka and Tamannaah rumored to “return” in some capacity . This is pure unconfirmed fan/speculator fantasy, but it trended like gospel.
• Old-school fan theories made a comeback tour on Reddit:
• Kattappa wanted to marry Devasena.

Devasena is actually Kattappa’s daughter and Baahubali impregnated her.

Kattappa didn’t really kill Baahubali; it was a staged death.

Fans gleefully revisited all the bonkers guesses they had before The Conclusion dropped, turning the 2025 release into a nostalgic theoryfest .

Add to that the cheeky new interval card in The Epic — “You don’t need to wait two years to know why Kattappa killed Baahubali” — and Rajamouli basically turned fan trauma into an in‑joke ^[1][11].