At a reported ₹350 crore budget, here’s where Prabhas’ Saaho stands on list of most expensive Indian films

Before its release, here’s where Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor’s Saaho stands on the list of the most expensive films in the history of Indian cinema.

Produced at a reported budget of ₹350 crore, the upcoming action film Saaho is the third most expensive film in Indian cinema history, after Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar’s 2.0 ( ₹570 crore) and SS Rajamouli’s upcoming RRR, whose budget could be as high as ₹400 crore.

Prabhas is coming off the back-to-back success of the Baahubali films.

Saaho reportedly has the most expensive action scene in the history of Indian cinema, shot at a reported budget of ₹90 crore. “The scale on which it is being made, a major budget will be spent on some extravagant action scenes. Although it will be a commercial outing, we are attempting something new and I would like to keep that as a surprise element,” director Sujeeth had told DNA.

The scene was filmed under the supervision of famed Hollywood action director Kenny Bates, who is known for his work in Pearl Harbour, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

 

Interestingly, the list of the most expensive Indian films is dominated by the south Indian film industry, with very few Bollywood movies making the cut. After Saaho, the fourth spot on the list is occupied by Vikram’s Mahavir Karna, to be released in 2020 at a budget of ₹300 crore. Both films are the 30th most expensive non English language movies ever.

Number five on the list is the Telugu film Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, starring an all-star cast of Chiranjeevi, Tamannaah, Nayanthara, Sudeep, Vijay Sethupathi, and Amitabh Bachchan. Due out on October 2, the film comes with a reported ₹270 crore price tag.

 

The most successful Indian film of all time, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, is only the sixth most expensive, made on a reported ₹250 crore budget. Meanwhile, the first Hindi film on the list is the number seven most expensive, Aamir Khan’s Thugs of Hindostan, which barely recouped its reported ₹220 - ₹300 crore budget. Thugs is followed by two more Hindi films, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period epic Padmaavat ( ₹215 crore) and Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai ( ₹210 crore).

The number 10 spot is shared by Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero, and Kamal Haasan’s upcoming Indian 2. Both films boast a ₹200 crore budget.

In comparison, the $82 million budget of India’s most expensive film (2.0), is a far cry from the number one most expensive film in the world, which is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Produced on a $379 million ( ₹2700 crore) budget, the film made over a billion dollars worldwide.

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