Meet the concept artist who designed 1000 concept arts for ‘Baahubali’

Chennai-based Concept Artist Viswanath Sundaram says he has designed more than 1000 concept arts for director SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus ‘Baahubali‘ series.

“Both parts (‘Baahubali: The Beginning‘ and ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion‘) put together, I have worked on more than thousand concept arts including drawings, illustrations, and trial sketches,” Viswanath told Only Kollywood. 

“I was working in Coimbatore when I got the call. My friend Suresh Selvaraj was working as the art director with Sabu Cyril. It was in 2013 when he called me and told that they are impressed with my job. Initially, I thought ‘Baahubali’ would be on the lines of ‘Mahabaratham.’ It was a delight when India’s most sought-after production designer appreciated my work. He asked me to join and work for three months. Initially, I was so apprehensive about the project, but later when I joined, I liked the working style of Rajamouli. During the first month, I even thought of quitting because nothing was clear to me, but in due course, I managed to do well. Sabu Cyril told me that ‘Baahubali’ is equivalent to 10 movies; I experienced it during my course of work,” recalls Viswanath about his early days on the sets of India’s long-awaited war actioner.

Viswanath says his work is more of a collaboration between director, production designer, VFX supervisor, cameraman and himself. 

“The director will detail the next sequence to be shot 15 days in advance, alongside production designer and VFX supervisor. After I start the work, the director and production designer will enhance the design as per the need and then utilize it. When I have sufficient time, I will provide my inputs to position the camera for a shot. Else I will give them an environment shot where they can decide the camera positioning,” adds Viswanath. 

Baahubali 2 is all set for worldwide release on April 28th.