India's most expensive web series cost more than Pathaan, Baahubali, Pushpa; but never released, filming never completed

The most expensive web series made in India cost Netflix ₹300 crore, but was cancelled without even a single episode streaming.

The streaming medium began in India to tell slice-of-life stories, which were generally told on smaller scales than regular TV and cinema. But over the years, as stars began to enter the fray, OTT platforms began mounting shows on bigger budgets. Soon, many Indian web series rivalled films in opulence and scale. Some even surpassed them. The biggest of them all would have been a spectacle, had it ever released.

The cover art of The Rise of Sivagami, upon which season 1 of the show was based.

India's most expensive web series

In 2018, streaming giant Netflix announced an ambitious show - a multi-season adaptation of Anand Neelakanthan's 2017 and 2020 novels The Rise of Sivagami, Chaturanga, and Queen of Mahishmathi. The series, a prequel to the Baahubali series, was titled Baahubali: Before the Beginning, and was produced by SS Rajamouli. The series chronicled the journey of a young Sivagami and how she came to encounter Katappa and eventually marry Bijjaladeva. Production began in September 2018 with Mrunal Thakur as Sivagami, along with with Deva Katta and Praveen Sattaru as the directors. The initial budget was ₹100 crore.

Mrunal Thakur had reportedly wrapped season 1 before it was scrapped.

However, the pandemic stalled the production. In 2021, Bollywood Hungama reported that Netflix and the makers were scrapping the initial version and starting afresh with a new lead. Wamiqa Gabbi came on board and the streamer greenlit the new version with an additional budget of ₹200 crore. The production team was changed too, and a new director - Kunal Deshmukh - was hired.

Baahubali Before the Beginning's troubled production

By 2022, Netflix had begun to have doubts about the show's feasibility. After struggling with the show's direction for years, Netflix began 're-evaluating' the show's fate in 2022, Variety reported. Director Kunal Deshmukh opted out of the project soon after. While no official word came, by 2024, the show had been shelved, without even the first season finishing filming.

The show was a prequel to the Baahubali film series.

Baahubali Before the Beginning's massive scale

Before it was shelved by Netflix, Baahubali: Before the Beginning had seen two sets of cast, three directors, and a ballooned-up budget of ₹300 crore. This production budget was ironically even higher than the ₹250-crore spent on Baahubali: The Beginning. It is also more than the production budgets of some of the biggest blockbusters made in Indian cinema recently, including Pathaan and Pushpa: The Rise (both ₹220-250 crore). Yet, after all this money being spent, it was tragic that the show never saw the light of the day.