Mahesh Babu loves to spend time abroad. He is a family man. He takes a lot of joy in spending time with his family in various resorts and hotels abroad and going on skiing and trekking trips and relishing food. Given his superstar status, he cannot enjoy such joys in India. Hence, he takes frequent foreign trips. All actors and superstars do the same, but Mahesh Babu does it in an extreme way.
In some years in the past, he spent more time abroad than in Hyderabad. He even cancelled shooting schedules of his movies to go on vacation with his family. What’s more, director Trivikram and his entire team went to Dubai to finalize the movie “Guntur Kaaram” and narrated the final story to him. Such was his fascination for staying in Dubai and other foreign countries.
Given his obsession with vacations, Rajamouli, as well as his fans, expressed doubts about whether Mahesh Babu can withstand the grueling shooting schedules the maverick filmmaker plans. Prabhas spent four years on “Baahubali” movies without taking any break and achieved desired success. NTR and Ram Charan both spent more than three years on “RRR,” not taking abroad trips much during those three years.
Hence, Rajamouli, before the commencement of “SSMB29,” posted a video on social media that he took a promise from Mahesh Babu that he would commit to shooting. He even posted a symbolic way of saying that he stole Mahesh Babu’s passport.
Today, Mahesh Babu went for a foreign trip. He was spotted at Hyderabad airport leaving for foreign vacation. His daughter Sithara was also spotted along with him. He was seen flashing his passport playfully at the paparazzi as he headed off on his first international trip since beginning work on “SSMB29.”
Taking advantage of the downtime, Mahesh Babu was smiling as he held up his passport—subtly letting everyone know he’d finally reclaimed it from Rajamouli.
The shooting of “SSMB29” began in the last week of January. In the first and second schedules of the film that took place at a special set created at the Aluminum Factory in Hyderabad, Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra participated. Priyanka Chopra is playing the main female lead.
In the third schedule, which took place in Koraput in Odisha, Malayalam star Prithviraj Sukumaran also joined them. He plays a key role. Then, Priyanka Chopra left for her home in Los Angeles.
Recently, Rajamouli further canned key sequences with Mahesh Babu in Hyderabad. The team is planning to leave for Kenya shortly.
Touted to be a globe-trotting adventure movie, “SSMB29” is mounted on a massive scale with a Rs 1000 crore budget. It is produced by KL Narayana and has music by MM Keeravani. Rajamouli wrote the script based on South African writer Wilbur Smith’s novels.
In the past, it was said that Rajamouli would be making the movie in two parts like “Baahubali,” but the latest reports say he has changed his plan and is turning it into a single movie with a runtime of three hours and 30 minutes.