Actor Prabhas' market across India shot up after the mammoth success of his Baahubali films and was last seen in the high-budget action flick, Saaho. The actor has since been cast in three pan-Indian ventures starting with director Radha Krishna Kumar's period romantic film Radhe Shyam opposite Ala Vaikuntapurramuloo star Pooja Hegde, followed by the tentatively titled Prabhas 21 with Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan under Mahanati director Nag Ashwin and the highly ambitious Adipurush, which will see him face off Saif Ali Khan, who has been cast as the antagonist, with Om Raut serving as the director.

Among the three mega ventures, his Adipurush has now been announced to release in theatres worldwide on August 11, 2022. Director Om Raut made the massive announcement on Thursday on Twitter, with a special poster which included the tagline "Celebrating the victory of good over evil". The film is reportedly an adaptation of Ramayana with Prabhas playing the role inspired by Lord Ram and Saif Ali Khan said to be portraying a character named Lankesh who is based on Ravan. A 3D action drama, Adipurush will be shot in Hindi and Telugu and will be released in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada as well.

#Adipurush in theatres 11.08.2022#Prabhas #SaifAliKhan #BhushanKumar @vfxwaala @rajeshnair06 @TSeries @retrophiles1 #TSeries pic.twitter.com/EL4WZUkyni

— Om Raut (@omraut) November 19, 2020

Speaking about Prabhas' casting in Adipurush, director Om Raut earlier told news agency PTI, "I think Prabhas is just perfect. His entire persona, the calmness that he has. His eyes are so deep, his stance, the way he carries himself, his entire personality. I could see Adipurush in him and if it wasn’t him, I wouldn’t have made the film." Introducing Saif Ali Khan's character in the film, Om Raut wrote in an Instagram post a while back, "7000 years ago existed the world's most intelligent demon! #Adipurush #SaifAliKhan."

Adipurush will incidentally be Om Raut's second collaboration with Saif Ali Khan after the 2019 blockbuster Tanhaji, in which the National Award-winning actor played the antagonist as well. Om previously stated, "To play the strongest villain from our epic, we needed a brilliant actor. Who better than Saif Ali Khan, one of the greatest actors of our lifetime, to essay this powerful role". Earlier, Prabhas too spoke about his role in Adipurush and said, "Every role and every character comes with its own challenges, but portraying a character like this comes with tremendous responsibility and pride. I am very excited to portray this character from our epic, especially the way Om has designed it. I am sure the youth of our country will shower all their love on our film."