Filmmaker SS Rajamouli’s directorial outing RRR starring superstars Ram Charan and Jr NTR not only took India by a storm but also created a euphoric frenzy in the West. At the time when Rajamouli was busy campaigning for the representation of his film at this year’s Oscars, it was screened at Los Angeles’ TCL Chinese Theatre on January 9 and to everyone’s surprise, the tickets for it were sold out in a matter of just 98 seconds. The film went on to the grab the attention of many heavyweights in Hollywood and a while back, it made history as it bagged the prestigious Golden Globe Award in the Best Original Song category for Naatu Naatu and a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. And recently, the hit track received a nomination for the Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards.
Along with the audience here, members of the Indian film fraternity are also exhilarated with the honour. Last year, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has predicted an Oscar nomination for Rajamouli’s visual extravaganza. And now, in an exclusive interaction with News18, Anurag, who has heaped praises on the film on multiple occasions, tells us that RRR is a success story in the West largely because of the fact that it is rooted in Indian culture. He says, “Movies from down South are still grounded and they still look like Indian films. RRR is all about its storytelling and for the global audience, Naatu Naatu is a visually incredible song because it’s rooted.”
Lauding Rajamouli’s dedication and vision, Anurag states that it’s no cakewalk pulling off a song sequence like Naatu Naatu, which was shot in Ukraine for 12 days consecutive days. “It’s so hard to pull [something like that] off. I would give up right there thinking that shooting for a song sequence would take me so many number of days. And here’s a director who pursues a sequence and takes as many days as required to shoot it! That takes a lot of vision, courage and nerves of steel. And that has translated,” he remarks.
At the Critics Choice Award that was held in Los Angeles on January 15 this year, director James Cameron was seen having a conversation with Rajamouli and he couldn’t help but gush about RRR. Anurag believes that Hollywood will soon reach out to the Baahubali maker to helm big-scale extravaganzas and that Rajamouli is the perfect person to direct a DC and a Marvel superhero film. “Everybody in the West is trying to reach out to Rajamouli now. He’s the kind of filmmaker who can make a massive difference. He’s like the perfect director for a DC or a Marvel film. Conversations about collaborations between India and the West have been going on for a very long time. But with SS Rajamouli, it wouldn’t be a collaboration. What will happen is that they will steal him from us,” he says with a smirk.
Prod him further and the director, who is awaiting the release of his upcoming film Always Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat, continues, “But that’s what they do. If they like something, they take it away. They’ve been stealing from so many countries, not just from India (smiles). They stole Pakistani people from Pakistan and Japanese people from Japan, who created a blast [with their creativity and work]. They also stole Bong Joon-ho (filmmaker of Parasita fame) from South Korea.”
With the global buzz around RRR, the focus of the world and particularly Hollywood has shifted to Indian cinema. Ask him about his thoughts on the same and Anurag expresses, “If the West had seen Eega (2012) before, he would have been celebrated much before. They will definitely see more and more Indian films now. But now, they are busy watching old films of Rajamouli.” He adds, “They still have a colonial mindset. Woh loh humaara Kohinoor hamesha leke bhaagenge (laughs). We can’t do anything about it. But RRR will definitely benefit Indian films and help the West see our cinema in a newer light. That way, I think it’s a massive success for us.”
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