‘Baahubali: The Eternal War’: Ishan Shukla reveals film inspired by Gujarat monastery; joke Prabhas fans will “KILL YOU” if the animation is wrong |

SS Rajamouli and the team behind “Baahubali: The Eternal War” offered new ideas about the ambitious animated spin-off at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2026. Along with Rajamouli was director Ishan Shukla, who spoke about the film, getting the animation right and also shared the inspiration behind the central concept.Producer Rajamouli unveiled the CGI spin-off of the blockbuster franchise at the event. Taking to the big stage, he shared that he had high hopes for the film after previous animated entries in the franchise failed to recreate the impact of the original live-action films.“We found moderate hits, but never the kind of impact that the Baahubali has done the franchise. Then one day another madman, Ishan Shukla, comes along and gives us an idea of ​​what happens to Baahubali after his death, and enters the 14 realms of Indian mythology,” he told fans and media.Directed by Shukla, ‘Baahubali: The Eternal War’ follows Baahubali into the afterlife where he is embroiled in an eternal battle across the 14 realms between the Devas and the Asuras.Speaking to Deadline after the presentation, Shukla revealed that the idea came from his own spiritual journey to a monastery in Gujarat. “I spent about four years in a monastery in India, from the age of 30 to 35,” he said. “There was a huge painting, a mural in the Temple of the 14 Worlds. That idea stuck with me for a long time.”Shukla said that producer Shobu Yarlagadda approached him after watching his animated feature ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’ and said, “He could feel that I have a good grasp of scale and a lot of characters. He said maybe we should try something together. I was looking for the next Baahubali, but something super unique. That’s how it started.”The filmmaker admitted that he was initially hesitant to take on the project, as he is known for his “super psychedelic” work, but added that the common thread was “world building.”Sharing the biggest creative challenges while taking on the project, Shukla said, it was changing PrabhasThe iconic portrayal of Baahubali in animation. “It was a very long process because we wanted to stylize him… if we try too hard to make Prabhas look real, he starts to look like a video game character,” he explained.“So we had to hit a sweet spot where we’re very, very religious with the style of this film, but we’re also religious for Prabhas’ fans. And Prabhas’ fans are, you know, they’ll kill you. So we had to be very clear that he looked like Prabhas, that he was believable. We went through a lot of iterations for him.”Paris animation director Antoine Charreyron, who worked on the character designs alongside Florent Auguy and Dorian Marchesin under the Alcide banner, said the mythology turned out to be much more complex and they initially expected it to be like “Lord of the Rings”. “We thought this was easy. It’s Lord of the Rings. The Devas and the Asuras are the Elves and the Trolls. It was a mistake, it’s deeper than that. There are the 14 kingdoms, lots of details… and every detail means something. So it’s really interesting.”CGI supervisor Simon Brown, who joined the production in January, confirmed that work is now progressing on a large scale. “We are in full production. We are building hundreds of characters, creatures, animals, props, vehicles, creating 38 environments in various realms.”Shukla added that the film is currently targeting completion in the second half of 2027, with plans to return to Annecy next year to show additional footage of the project.