Happy Birthday SS Rajamouli: 10 interesting facts about the man who gave us Baahubali

Telugu super hit film director SS Rajamouli celebrated his 43rd birthday on 10 October. He made his directorial debut with Telugu superstar Jr NTR in 2001 film, Student No.1. The film was a blockbuster at the Box Office.

Since Student No.1, Rajamouli has directed nine films and all of them have been blockbusters at the Box Office. The maverick director is all set to entertain the Indian audience in 2017 with the much-awaited film of the decade, the sequel to Baahubali, Baahubali 2 : The Conclusion.

On his 43rd birthday, here are 10 lesser known facts about India's genuis director with the Midas touch.

1) Rajamouli's real name is Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli. He was born in Raichur, Karnataka, in 1973. His father, K V Vijayendra Prasad, is a noted script writer whose works include Baahubali : The Beginning and Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

2) Before entering the film industry, Rajamouli directed few television shows for Telugu channel, Eenadu Television. His mentor was popular film director Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao. He also directed a serial named Santhi Nivasam under the production of Rao.

3) Rajamouli is fondly known as Jakkanna by his fans. During the shoot of Santhi Nivasam, Rajeev Kanakala used to call him Jakkanna, but it became popular when Jr NTR used to refer to him by this moniker during public appearances.

4) His debut film as a director, 2001 release Student No.1, opened to great reviews and was a hit at the Box Office. Like his debut film, his next release, Simhadri also starred Jr.NTR and was a Box Office blockbuster. It created several records upon its release and the movie went on to run more than 100 days in 150 cinemas. The success of Simhadri brought Rajamouli into the top league of filmmakers.

5) Rajamouli's favorite actor is two-time National award winning-actor and Malayalam superstar Mohanlal. After Student No. 1, he planned a mythological film with Mohanlal, but it did not materialise. But the superhit director revealed that he will soon team up with Lalettan after Baahubali: The Conclusion.

6) Rajamouli holds an engineering degree from C.R.R. College of Engineering, Eluru. He is married to Rama and the couple has two children.

7) His favourite film among those he has directed is Maryada Ramanna. The film has been inspired from a Hollywood film, Ours Hospitality. Maryada Ramanna was later remade in Hindi (Son Of Sardaar), Malayalam (Ivan Maryadaraman), Tamil (Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham) and Bengali (Faande Poriya Boga Kaande Re).

8) Earlier, Sanjay Leela Bhansali wanted Rajamouli to direct Rowdy Rathore, the Hindi remake of his Telugu blockbuster Vikramarkudu. But the director had other commitments in Telugu cinema and later Prabhu Dheva was roped in to direct the Akshay Kumar starrer. Rowdy Rathore is Bollywood Khiladi's biggest blockbuster till date.

9) In a career spanning 13 years, he has directed 10 films and all of them have been clean blockbusters at the Box Office. He is the second Indian director (maximum 10 films) after Shankar to have zero flops to his credit. Interestingly, three of his films, Baahubali: The Beginning, Magadheera and Eega are among the top 10 grossers of Telugu cinema industry. Also, all three films have won internatonal recognition as well.

10) His films, Eega and Baahubali: The Beginning have won one National award each for best feature film category in 2012 and 2015. Rajamouli has won three Filmfare awards, and two CineMAA awards for his direction. His film, Baahubali: The Beginning, which has been made on a whopping budget of Rs. 250 crore is India's biggest film to release till date. The Hindi dubbed version of the film was a Rs. 100 crore blockbuster at Bollywood Box Office. The film's sequel, Baahubali: The Conclusion, the much-awaited film of 2017 is slated to be released on 28 April 2017.