 After considering several actresses ( including <unk> ) for the princess role , Kajal Aggarwal was selected by Rajamouli as the female lead opposite Ram Charan after conducting a <unk> in his office . Rajamouli said that he wanted to cast her as the female lead in <unk> ( 2007 ) after her Telugu debut Lakshmi <unk> ( 2007 ) , but she was unavailable . He added that he wanted somebody " good looking , who would look like a princess and who had dates available " and finalised her because she met all of these <unk> . After conducting her <unk> , Rajamouli explained the story and Mithra 's characterisation to her in 45 minutes . He said she needed to treat the hero <unk> , but do so out of love for the hero . Kajal kept this in mind and acted accordingly while playing the dual roles of a princess from 400 years ago and a modern @-@ day college student . Kajal called both her roles " unique and challenging " . 
