The Making Of Waaji City

Sabu Cyril discusses the ambitious production design of Saaho that involved constructing a fictitious city of gangsters

Some film units in Hyderabad have nicknamed Ramoji Film City (RFC) as Sabu Film City, since the acclaimed production designer Sabu Cyril has been helming multiple big-budget projects there in the last few years.

The Mahishmati city centre he designed for S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali is now a tourist attraction. After the massive sets and factory-like production of weapons, thrones and chariots for the two-part film, Sabu’s team also worked on Netflix’s forthcoming web series, Baahubali: Before the Beginning.

Away from this period setting, more than two years ago, Cyril began conceptualising and designing set pieces for the neo-futuristic, fictional Waaji City for the 350 crore multilingual action extravaganza Saaho, releasing nationwide on August 30.

During the pre-production stage, the Saaho team was aware of its ambitious scale. If DC Comics had Gotham City to boast of, Saaho would create Waaji City — the den of dreaded gangsters.

Cyril had worked with 200 technicians for Baahubali, and the strength increased to 300 for Saaho. “Every day, I was working with at least 200 people. I’ve learnt to delegate work to the right people to ensure that everything progresses smoothly,” Cyril tells us over the phone from Bulgaria, where Rajamouli is filming his new project RRR.