The year was 2010. SS Rajamouli had already established his mark at the box office with Magadheera. He followed it up with another success in Maryada Ramanna. Next up was his magnum opus, dream project 'Baahubali' with Prabhas. However, he had to wait a while due to the prior commitments of some of the actors including Prabhas. The restless filmmaker that he is, he planned to make a small movie within 4-5 months which would keep him busy until 'Baahubali' started. He was never one to make simple love stories. So while he was casting around for interesting subjects, he remembered an old story that his father used to tell him. The story was about a tiny housefly seeking revenge on a fully grown man. SSR decide to reconsider this subject for his pet project and scripting began for the same.
What started as a small pet project began to eventually grow on Rajamouli. He had fallen so much in love with his subject that he decided that he needed everything to be perfect. But the initial team of animators came back with a product that was absolutely horrible. The fly they came up with was positively ghastly. Six months of time and crores of rupees were already spent. This was the time when SSR even considered shelving the project. However, his love for the the subject didn't let him give him. He started once again with a fresh team of animators. This time the fly was just perfect.
The biggest challenge in making a film featuring a fly was that it could not give facial expressions. A fly's face is covered with its eyes. SSR had to rely completely on body language to get the fly's emotions right. He even voiced the fly's sounds himself. Check this out.
This was also the first Indian film that had almost 90 minutes of computer generated footage, comprising of 2,234 CGI shots. That number is sure to make anyone's head spin. However, the capable mind of SS Rajamouli was at the helm. His meticulous planning and sheer hardwork made EEGA into what it is today. For instance, here's how he planned out the visual effects work that needed to be done with precision.
With the film being delayed, naturally he was hounded by fans who were eagerly waiting to watch his film. That's when he decided to make a video explaining all the work that was going on behind the scenes. Almost like a school teacher trying to explain a very complex subject to his students. Naturally, he has an anecdote for that too.
EEGA served as the dry run SSR needed before Baahubali. The precision with which he was able to create CGI imagery suiting his imagination in Baahubali was all thanks to the learning curve he went through while making EEGA. This film is definitely the most important film in SS Rajamouli's career.
