In news from the Kingdom of Mahishmati, Bahubali has suffered a surgical strike. But contrary to expectations, the assault was neither led by Kattappa nor by the deadly Kalakeyas, but by the Income Tax (IT) department of Narendra Modi’s Government of India.

Three teams consisting of 25 members raided the Kingdom’s production offices in Hyderabad’s upscale Banjara Hills area on Friday evening. They are reported to have unearthed nearly Rs 50 crore in cash, in denominations of the now illegal tender of 500 and 1000 rupee notes. Sources in Bahubali‘s production unit have said the figure is smaller. 

With this, Bahubali, one of India’s most high-profile films till date and winner of the National award for best film in 2015, has become the IT department’s first big catch. The two producers of the film, Shobu Yarlagadda and Devineni Prasad, will have much explaining to do about the presence of so much cash in their offices. 

The raids are part of a series the IT sleuths have been undertaking in Delhi and Mumbai on business houses and jewellers hoarding what is seen as black money. The makers of Bahubali came under the IT radar because of the high cost the film’s sequel was sold for in different markets. Bahubali – The Conclusion releases on April 28, 2017. 

When it began negotiating the price to sell the sequel, Arka Mediaworks, the Bahubali production house, had fixed the returns that Bahubali – The Beginning fetched when it released in July 2015, as the base price. For instance, Bahubali (Part 1) was sold in Telugu for around Rs 25 crore in the Nizam’s territory (Telangana). It did business worth Rs 48 crore. Asian Cinemas picked up the sequel’s Telugu distribution rights for Rs 50 crore. 

Likewise, Bahubali‘s Tamil version went for Rs 35 crore. The first part had been sold for Rs 14 crore. The satellite rights for Bahubali were sold for Rs 18 crore, but the sequel went for Rs 50 crore. 

The norm in buying and selling of films is that 75 per cent of the transaction is by cheque and the remaining amount by cash. With corporates more involved with Bollywood, Mumbai sees the cheque component going up to even 85 per cent. But no agreement is signed between the producer and the distributor till the entire cash is paid upfront first. 

Bahubali counts among the most expensive made in Telugu and even Indian film history. The first part, made for Rs 120 crore, grossed close to Rs 650 crore. It became the first south Indian film to cross the Rs 100 crore mark in its Hindi-dubbed version. Realising that the movie (even though originally a Telugu film) is now seen as a national product, the budget was scaled up for the sequel and is believed to have been produced at a cost of Rs 200 crore. 

Conspiracy theories are flying thick and fast as to what led to the raid. Sources indicate that a large cash component was delivered to Arka Mediaworks in recent days. It is also being alleged that the information about the money was leaked to the IT department, with precise information about the cash tranche. 

Secondly, schadenfreude was also possibly at work, with not everyone in the Indian film industry too happy with the phenomenal success the makers of Bahubali have achieved. It is suspected that precise details of the astronomical sums Bahubali Part 2 was sold for and the kind of business the movie is expected to do, were revealed to the government officials at the highest level. 

The critical scene of Kattappa killing Bahubali was shot on Thursday and the cast and crew were excited with how it had shaped up. On Friday, the shooting during the final schedule continued but the two producers and even director SS Rajamouli were reportedly not present.

Team Bahubali is disappointed at the blemish but believes the raid is just a blip and won’t have any impact on the film. It says once all the money is shown on the book, they will be on course to deliver a blockbuster product.