SS Rajamouli Talks About Unexpected Success Of ‘RRR’ In The West: I Realised Something I Never Knew

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli is currently at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival, and he spoke about his film ‘RRR’ recently.

Outlook Web Bureau

Updated on: 16 September 2022 8:15 am

SS Rajamouli at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli, an epic action drama film ‘RRR’, starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr, Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, and Shriya Saran among others, proved to be a massive hit in India. During an interaction at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), SS Rajamouli talked about how ‘RRR’ managed to transcend boundaries as well, and became a real word-of-mouth hit in the West.

At the event, Rajamouli also said that despite international interest in him, he hopes to retain his storytelling style as he kicked off the Oscar campaign for ‘RRR’. “Never, ever did I expect RRR to do well with the Western audiences,” Rajamouli said. Further, claiming that he is still in the ‘nascent’ stage of his career as a filmmaker, he asserted that only after ‘Baahubali’ films did well in Japan, he realised that he should focus on the Eastern side of the world.?

For the unversed, ‘RRR’, a fictionalised account of two freedom fighters, managed to gain an ardent fan-following, particularly in the United States following a Netflix release. Filmmakers such as Scott Derrickson, Edgar Wright and James Gunn also endorsed the film.

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“When RRR released, and I started getting responses one by one, I thought, ‘OK, maybe there are a few’. But the few went into hundreds, the hundreds went into thousands… Story writers, directors, critics, people from different fields were talking highly about RRR. I realised something I never knew about my films,” Rajamouli said, adding, “I thought the sensibilities are different, but I realised that the sensibilities can also be similar. I am still trying to understand, to be very frank.”

Interestingly, ‘RRR’ is also expected to attract Oscar buzz during the upcoming awards season, however, it still remains to be seen if it is selected as India’s official entry. Still, the film remains to be able to compete in various other categories besides Best International Film regardless.

Apart from the TIFF appearance, Rajamouli is also expected to be a part of a month-long retrospective of his films at LA’s Beyond Fest.?

S.S. Rajamouli signed off by saying that he is working on his next film which would be a "globe-trotter adventure movie - bigger and better" than his previous works. It will feature Mahesh Babu in the lead.