3 Questions with RRR Director S.S. RAJAMOULI!

Ian's Tollywood dreams come true as he talks with RRR writer/director S.S. Rajamouli!

During a recent virtual press round table, Ian asked the visionary creator of 2022's best film three questions. Doesn't sound like a lot--but Rajamouli's answers offer insight into the process, spirit, and heart of a moviemaking powerhouse.

Special thanks to all the fans of the worldwide fans of Indian cinema who have not only broadened our horizons as appreciators of film, but also inspired Kicking the Seat's newest monthly livestream review series!

And if you're in Chicago tomorrow (11/12/22) for the Music Box Theatre's SOLD-OUT screening of RRR (after which Mr. Rajamouli will participate in a not-to-miss Q&A), be sure to say "Hi" to whichever of Earth's Mightiest Critics you spot in the crowd!

If you haven't seen RRR yet, stream it on Netflix IMMEDIATELY (or whenever you have a spare 3 hours and 7 minutes). No spoilers in this interview, but context is key.

Enjoy!

BONUS! Check out Don Shanahan’s segment from the round table, in which he asks S.S. Rajamouli about his next project!

Show Links
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Watch the RRR trailer:

Watch the livestream that started it all: Kicking the Seat's Round Table Review of RRR with Earth's Mightiest Critics!

Support ALL of Earth's Mightiest Critics at our various outlets:

Get educated with Don Shanahan at Every Movie Has a Lesson:

...And 25YL:

...AND the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast:

Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel:

Check out Mark "The Movie Man" Krawczyk's The Spoiler Room Podcast:

Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree:

Keep up with Annie Banks at Chuck Load of Comics:

...AND Movieweb:

And stir things up with Will Johnson of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[venugopalmuvvala]

Vow. Your last question was an eye opener to us in the Telugu states. Rajamouli's thought process seems to make a lot of sense.

[nsn]

Wow, scoring a private Q&A with SSR! Holy cow. Great questions. His answer about the partition of Andhra Pradesh motivating the plot of RRR was absolutely heart-rending. It's in every moment of the love and conflict Ram and Bheem face.

[TELUGU]

I'm from Telangana Hyderabad a cruel Politician divided us 😔 but our beloved Tollywood connects our two Telugu states I'm so so proud on my Telugu cinema it single Handley lifted India's image 🇮🇳🙏😊
Jai Telugu thali 🚩
Jai bharat mata 🚩🇮🇳

[goyanka]

SSR is very genuine to his feelings and that is what he is able to reflect in his craft very successfully.

Thanks for sharing interview with RRR fans

[JOHNWICKDARKK]

RRR- The Most entertaining flick from earth
Gobsmacking Theater i eveRRR Had

[T-Trends]

RRR, it's not just a movie my indian brother. Its about to relive & show our indian culture at international level. We should thank our evergreen director SS RAJAMOULI 🙏🙏🙏 Jai shree ram.

[Yadagiriyoga]

That's director Rajamouli mark..
Rrr is an epic..
It's a true characters of two freedom fighters of India with fictional story based on true heroes of two freedom fighters of two Telugu States (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) of India.. in 1920..year..times.
One is Komuram bheem
N Alluri sita Rama Raju..
They fought against to Monopoly British n Nizams rules (muslim rule) for independence...
And actors nailed it..
One is Ram Charan as ramaraju
N Jr. NTR as Komuram Bheem

Telugu film Industry of INDIA(Tollywood)
One of the biggest Film iIndustry
Southern part of India..
Two states speak Telugu language more than 11, crore people speaking Language.. in India


1) seeta rama raju from andhra pradesh and Komuram bheem from telangana statess, in history both of them Raju and bheem were from same timeline but never met each other in reality, in original history they both went missing for 4 years during this 1920 time period, no one knows where they went and what they did, but after 4 years they both returned to their villages and fought their own fights and both sacrificed their lives for our country, Director rajamouli hv woven a fictional story that what happens if they met each other, and exchange their ideas and ideologies in the time period they went missing... That's how this movie was born.... This movie is about India's freedom from british rule,


2) In RRR we find the performances of english actors far better, that's because rajamouli approached professionals, the one who played Scott is "Ray Stevenson" one who acted in "Thor" movies, one who played lady Scott is "Alison doody" the lead actress from indiana jones....


3) When ram captures bheem's clan member, he catches a snake n attacks ram even though he is tied, that man catching the snake is justified coz they r gond tribals, they know everything abt every animal, how to trap and catch them, n how to treat animal attacks using natural ayurvedic remedies, since they were born n brought up in jungle along with those animals n plants, that's how even jr NTR is able to tame n control the animals during interval sequence....
That song jr NTR sings while being whipped "komaram bheemudo", few non indian and north indian audience may find the song lil distasteful because they r unaware of the importance of the song, the gond tribe (the telangana people) who faced many tortures under the nijam rule, hv developed a habit of singing folklore songs explaining their pain n oppression for years, these songs kind of made those people stronger n revolt against nijams, similarly at the end of the song people revolt, even now a days these songs r famous in Telangana area, we andhra n telangana people r familiar with such songs, but north indian n non indian audience may not hv any idea abt it, even the song komaram bheemudo was written by one of the famous revolutionary singer from telangana area, if u concentrate on the lyrics of the song we can feel the oppression his people r facing....


4) the subtext or easter egg about the "Barbed whip" that lady scott threw to torture jr NTR is that in the climax when the Scott's empire blows up when lady scott died we can see her body hanging in "Barbed wires" implying that she finally got what she deserved.... "karma is a bitch"🤭🤭🤣


5)near the climax when jr NTR knocks on the floor to find ram who was imprisoned in the ground, he actually knocks the same beats of Nacho Nacho song, so that only ram charan could recognise it's him rather than other possible prisoners, ram charan also reciprocates by knocking the same beat of nacho nacho, even in the earlier scene when ram charam is bit by snake he plays the same beats to communicate with jr NTR, the cinematic brilliance of rajamouli for using a song in so many ways giving easter eggs all the way around is lit🔥🔥🔥 hatsoff to rajamouli 🙏


6) In a scene where they show the security measures of the palace they had 2 doors at entrance, only after closing the 1st door they will open 2nd door, if we observe both the doors clearly and also if we listen to the creek sounds of both doors, we would know the outer door is a wooden one, and the inner door is a metal one, so to rescue malli they can break the outer door but they can't break the inner door, that's the reason y the character jhangu climbs a tree and listens for the 2nd door to open to rescue malli in interval scene... Every small detail in this movie is well planned and well executed...


7) the scene about bheem carrying ram in the climax sequence may seem a bit overemphasized, but even earlier in the film in dosti song there was a shot giving easter eggs, where we can see jr ntr doing squats on the ground lifting ram charan, then ram charan does pull ups holding a tree branch, this way rajamouli is planting an idea subconsciously to his audience that jr ntr got lower body strength n ram charan got upper body strength... So that audience get convinced during the climax scene where bheem carries ram... Even the scene seems physically impossible, rajamouli never hesitates to show his ideas n imaginations in the mostmost convincing way possible, that scene may be impossible but u could never find any other director pulling of such a scene in any film like rajamouli... Respect....

8) The same way In climax fight sequence bheem lifting a bike looks over the top for sure, but do u know those bikes were actually used during second world war time so that in any unforeseen situation during war the soldiers can actually carry the bikes, those bikes weight around 55kgs only, i agree that even 55 kg bike travelling at 50kmph velocity is difficult to be lifted... But look at the way it was imagined, presented, picturized, the mesmerising cinematography in that scene, the kind of goosebumps it gave us, we should watch the movie for its epicness, rather than being nitpicky about everything....



9) At the climax that transformation of ram charan🔥🔥, many people thought that was sree ram's avatar, there are many indian purana's references to the movie for sure but its not only sree ram's avatar, it is also about the original look of Alluri seeta rama raju (the freedom fighter ram charan was playing), alluri seeta rama raju in history was well learnt man who wears those kashayam clothes fights with bow n arrows, probably the best archer india has ever had, he fought against britishers he got weapons n guns by attacking police stations n british camps, he used the same weapons to attack britishers with his trusted men... Even he was shot dead bybritishers in the freedom struggle... Legend says that britishers put around 100 bullets in his body n ruthlessly killed him... At the end of the film rajamouli showed ram n bheem in their original looks ram wearing kashayam clothes, with long hair n beard, bheem with a pagdi on his head n those clothes gond people used to wear...


10) the final RRR fact, For the interval sequence with animals rajamouli shot for around 65 nights, each night they spent around 75lakhs for the shoot itself... In that interval sequence they had to imagine animals were there n fight accordingly, for that to happen n so that each n every background artist to be in sync with the CG animals rajamouli employed different tactics while shoot

a) for bear they used a person wearing green blanket, since the movement of bear is slow similar to a human being...

b)For shots with tiger, tiger moves much faster than humans, so they can't just place a human with green blanket, so rajamouli positioned laser lights following the head position of the tiger, so that camera man n actors can imagine the position of tiger n act accordingly.
c) for wolves they used dogs which were trained to catch a ball, while shooting the sequence they randomly throw the balls in middle of men, so the dogs chase the balls, in that way rajamouli captured peoples reactions to wolves, later on during CG he replaced the dogs with wolves...

d) for other fast moving animals like deers, they used remote controlled cars moving in between the actors....


..

[dineshbanny]

U guys missed some super emotions from Rajamoouli in past movie's..He is the only director in Indian cinema 🎥 who never faced bad talk on films...

[saiphaniutkarshkethana]

Thank you so much for this last question ❤️

[darkprince]

we indians like to make fun of the term jugad, but it is actually related to the term yoga. This movie is certainly the yoga of Rajamouli.

[theboimaster]

EEGA THE FLY ONE THE BEST MOVIE SAME DRECTAR

[dineshbanny]

I want to learn work from u always ... 🔥

[samanthamasters]

The local politics is what it is. Most westners interpret it in global context. 😀

[indianblues]

wow... i thought you are a regular youtuber 😄🤣