One by one, the reasons behind the ballooning budget of The Raja Saab are slowly coming to light.
Earlier, we had already reported how the Prabhas Srinu episode proved to be extremely costly, mainly due to Prabhas’s decisions, which significantly pushed up the budget.
Now, another major factor has surfaced, this time related to song rights.
It has become a trend, especially in Tollywood to use old songs in new films. If a single vintage song is used effectively, it can become a huge advantage for a film.
We have seen this happen in films like Gaddalakonda Ganesh (velluvocchi godaramma), and more recently in K Ramp (idemitamma..maya maya). Even Mana Siva Shankara Vara Prasad Garu (sundari...) also used the same song across three languages.
However, old songs cannot be used freely. Filmmakers must first identify who owns the rights and then purchase them.
These rights usually cost several lakhs per song, and only in rare cases do they reach crores. Unfortunately for The Raja Saab, this turned out to be one such rare and expensive case.
The Prabhas–Maruthi film required a strong mass song featuring the hero with three heroines.
Music director Thaman initially planned to compose a fresh mass number on the lines of “Kurchi Madathapetti.” However, Prabhas had a different idea.
He preferred a vintage Hindi song, “Koi Yahan… Aha… Nacho Nacho,” from Disco Dancer and suggested remixing it instead.
Once the hero insisted, there was little room for resistance. The vintage song rights were acquired, and the cost reportedly came to a staggering Rs 11 crore.
This is an enormous amount, especially when even a top music director like Thaman does not command such remuneration. In fact, with that money, several new songs could have been composed.
But due to Prabhas’s fondness for the old song, the production had no choice but to bear the massive cost, further adding to the already inflated budget of The Raja Saab.
