For Baahubali, I turned to Mahabharata for inspiration: SS Rajamouli

SS Rajamouli's opulent period drama is creating all the right noises--Twitter response to its trailer has been phenomenon. Its conflicts and technical finesse has caught everyone's attention. Now, fillmaker SS Rajamouli speaks his inspiration.

SS Rajamouli's opulent period drama Baahubali is creating all the right noises -- Twitter response to its trailer has been phenomenon. Its conflicts and technical finesse has caught everyone's attention. Now, filmmaker SS Rajamouli speaks about what inspired his tale.

SS-Rajamouli-is-a-Hyderabad-based-Indian-film-director-known-for-blockbusters-such-as-Magadheera-and-Eega-He-works-primarily-in-the-Telugu-film-industry-ssrajamouli-Twitter

Speaking at the trailer launch of in Mumbai on Monday, Rajamouli said he sought inspiration for his forthcoming mega project from the epic Mahabharata.

Rana Daggubati plays Bhallala Deva.

"Baahubali is inspired by Mahabharata, and the upcoming second part is also inspired by Mahabharata," Rajamouli said.

"All my movies are inspired by Mahabharata and Ramayana because those are two epics that have been fed to me right from my childhood. I get my emotional connect from those epics," he added.

Rajamouli was present in Mumbai with Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar, and the film's cast, including Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia.

Tamannaah Bhatia as Avantika, the avenging princess.

Karan Johar is presenting Baahubali, which is said to have been made on a magnificent scale and has a pan-India appeal.

Dharma Productions has bought the theatrical rights of the Hindi version of the film. It will release on July 10.