Rajamouli recalls shooting Simhadri's most violent scene at the Kerala Assembly

SS Rajamouli turned a promotional chat for Fahadh Faasil's Don't Trouble The Trouble into a trip down memory lane. Speaking on the day the film opened, the celebrated director looked back at the most violent scene of his career, a sequence he filmed for NTR's Simhadri.

Rajamouli said Simhadri was shot in Kerala, and his unit filmed right in front of the Assembly building. In the scene, the hero races past the Assembly with an axe, cutting down people as he goes. The director admitted he was not sure a shoot like that would even be allowed now. By his estimate, the team spent roughly ten days filming in the state.

Karthikeya, who was part of the conversation, chimed in to say it was easily the filmmaker's most violent action episode. He added that nothing Rajamouli shot afterwards matched it, and pointed out that it was staged in front of the Assembly, no less. Rajamouli agreed without a second thought.

Fahadh wanted to know why Kerala was picked as the location. Rajamouli explained that the story needed the hero to leave Andhra and move somewhere completely separate, and Kerala felt right. The idea, he said, grew out of the word Singamalai. He noted that it is actually a Tamil word, but at the time the team assumed audiences would not tell Tamil and Malayalam apart, so they simply went ahead and shot it.

On the work front, Rajamouli is reportedly awaiting the release of his next directorial, Varanasi. The film stars Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra, and reports say it is lined up for release next April.