Reddit digs out old video of SS Rajamouli when he said Hrithik Roshan is nothing in front of Prabhas. Watch

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli had once compared Prabhas to Hrithik Roshan and said that the latter is nothing in front of his Baahubali star. It happened so at the trailer launch of Prabhas’s Billa in 2008. Rajamouli made the comparison between the actors after seeing some visuals from the film Billa. Also read: Prabhas begins shooting for next film Raja Deluxe

A clip of Rajamouli’s speech has resurfaced on Reddit and it has earned mixed response. In the clip, Rajamouli said, “When Dhoom 2 released two years ago, I wondered why only Bollywood can make such quality films. Don’t we have heroes like Hrithik Roshan? I just saw the songs, poster and trailer of Billa, and I can only say one thing. Hrithik Roshan is nothing in front of Prabhas. I’d like to thank Meher Ramesh (director) for taking Telugu cinema to Hollywood level.”

Rajamouli’s old comment has left user with mixed feelings. One of them took to the comment section and wrote “I can confirm the translation is little bit all over but SSR said it & that’s 15 years ago when nobody used to look at Telugu cinema and audio launch speeches were a thing here (to hype the main lead etc). Jakanna sometimes just throws words in the air, he had little beef with Sri Devi too and couldn’t control his emotions.”

“Hrithik is nothing in front of Prabhas” is not an accurate translation. He said people say Telugu cinema doesn’t have actors like Hrithik (referring to how handsome he is, apart from acting talent). And then he says he saw song, posters and trailer and says Hrithik wouldn’t work out for this. (This is the closest translation I can come up with),” added another one. Someone else also opined, “Maybe it’s just a one off statement or maybe he’s just pretending to be humble to market himself as the everyday man or maybe he changed into a more humble fellow.”

Directed by Meher Ramesh, Billa was the remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s Don. It starred Prabhas alongside Anushka Shetty, and released in 2009. It is one of the most celebrated Telugu films of Prabhas, even before his blockbuster Baahubali series.

While Prabhas was one of the most promising stars of the Telugu film indsutry when Billa released, Hrithik was already soaking in the success of Jodhaa Akbar (2008), followed by Luck By Chance in next year. In the lastest, Prabhas’s two consecutive films, Saaho and Radhe Shyam failed to meet the expectations of the audience. He will be next seen in Adipurush, Salaar, Raja Deluxe and Project K.

Hrithik, on the other hand, will be next seen in Siddharth Anand’s Fighter. The action film also has Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor. It’s slated to release in January 2024.