Naidu tells designers to get Baahubali maker’s help
HYDERABAD: The towering structures that made up the fantastical city of Mahishmati in the Baahubali franchise might soon become a reality – in Andhra Pradesh’s upcoming capital of Amaravati.
Miffed with the blueprint of his dream project, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has turned to Baahubali director SS Rajamouli for help in overhauling the designs n and bring Amaravati closer to the grandeur of Mahishmati, the mythical setting for India’s highest-grossing film.
The CM on Thursday rejected the blueprint for the state legislature complex and high court building – which resembled the Kohinoor diamond and a Stupa respectively – and asked the British architecture firm overseeing the project to seek inputs from 43-year-old Rajamouli.
The government has proposed to fly Rajamouli down to London next month for a discussion on the Amaravati buildings, attended by Naidu himself. “There is no question of compromising on the designs, till I get the best in the world,” Naidu told reporters.
Sources said Naidu was blown by the larger-than-life structures and intricate architecture that made up Mahishmati onscreen and wants to replicate it for Amaravati.
But Naidu’s lofty ambition has hamstrung the Amaravati project, which has seen little progress three years after it was commissioned. The 67-year-old CM has repeatedly rejected designs.
In October 2016, the state government cancelled the agreement with the Japanese firm and went with the current British firm, Norman Foster, which agreed to partner with Hafeez Contractor.
The delays have worried experts and angered political opponents. Noted architect G Shankar Narayan said the cost overrun could be around 5% of the project but that it could be made up during the execution process.
“This is utterly ridiculous. How many times does Naidu change the designs and designers? Either the designers should be inefficient or the selection itself is fraudulent,” alleged YSR Congress spokesman K Parthasarathy.