The two-part trend for blockbuster films was started by Rajamouli who split his Baahubali in two halves and is still reaping the benefits. Prior to that Ram Gopal Varma split his gangster drama Raktacharitra(which introduced Tamil superstar Suriya into the Hindi belt) into two.But that didn’t work.

More recently the very talented director Hemanth Rao teamed up with Rakshit Shetty for the stunning Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side A which hit theatres a few months ago.He is now back with the sequel Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side B which opens this week.

Now a source very close to Mahesh Babu in Hyderabad informs me that his untitled film with S S Rajamouli, which starts shooting in early 2024, will also be a two-part feature film.

Informs the source, “Mahesh Babu and Rajamouli discussed it . They decided that the script sprawls into a far wider spectrum than the normal playing-time of a film. They had two choices: either make a 4-hour-plus feature, or split it into two and release it with within two months of each other. They opted for the latter.”