Indian action hit RRR eyes Oscars
FOLLOWING the global success of India’s hit action blockbuster RRR, celebrated filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli is heading to Los Angeles, California, the United States for a major in-person career retrospective that could also kick-start the film’s Oscar hopes.
The month-long “From Tollywood To Hollywood: The Spectacle & Majesty of S.S. Rajamouli” programme is part of the 10th edition of LA’S Beyond Fest, the highest attended genre festival in the US, where the 48-year-old writer-director will make his first-ever appearance at an American festival with several of his best known films.
It is also the first stateside retrospective for Rajamouli, who’s made 12 feature films since 2001 and is considered one of his country’s preeminent powerhouse filmmakers.
Fans of Telugu-language cinema, dubbed Tollywood, know Rajamouli as a master of spectacle whose films Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) and RRR are among the highest-budgeted and highest-grossing Indian films to date.
But the breakout success of RRR, a 1920s-set historical epic starring Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr as folk heroes who teamed up against the British Raj, brought the film and Rajamouli even greater crossover acclaim after its initial Us$140mil (Rm630mil) worldwide box office run.
Despite a three-hour-plus runtime, it scored big in May with its Encorrre theatrical rerelease and Netflix streaming debut, fuelled by buzzy word of mouth and social media fervour.
American audiences will have the chance to watch Charan’s Raju and Rama Rao’s Bheem fight tigers, juggle motorcycles and
Naatu Naatu their way across the screen on Sept 30 at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, with the director in attendance.
The series continues Oct 1 at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica with a nine-hour marathon of his action epics Baahubali and Baahubali 2 as well as Eega (2012), about a man reincarnated as a fly, where Rajamouli will participate in a career-spanning Q&A.
His 2009 fantasy actioner
Magadheera, also starring Charan, and 2010 feuding family drama
Maryada Ramanna will screen in October at Beyond Fest, which runs Sept 27-Oct 11.
And while Netflix’s Hindi language version of RRR became its most popular Indian film, per the streamer, Beyond Fest’s
Rajamouli screenings will be presented in their original Telugu with English subtitles and include intermissions.
“Since inception, Beyond Fest has fought tirelessly to give film fans the best theatrical experiences in the world, From Tollywood to Hollywood delivers on that promise,” said Beyond Fest co-founder Christian Parkes in a statement.
“To celebrate the world’s greatest filmmaker and present the biggest film in the world, RRR, in Imax at the most famous theatre in the world is the dream culmination of a decade’s work.”
While in LA, Rajamouli will also serve as guest programmer, introducing a 35mm screening of Charlie Chaplin’s 1931 black-andwhite film City Lights as part of the American Cinematheque’s Sunday Print Edition series at the Los Feliz 3.
Chaplin’s silent classic is a
longtime favourite of Rajamouli’s, the filmmaker revealed in an episode of Joe Dante’s Trailers From Hell podcast. Born into a filmmaking family, he grew up devouring comics and movies, catching a rare screening of City Lights in his youth between showings of Indian films at a local cinema.
As RRR’S distributors eye a potential Oscar bid, Rajamouli supporters hope his LA visit also further introduces the filmmaker and his body of work to US awards voters.
India has not yet named its official Academy Awards submission, but the country has not had a nominated film in 20 years, and many RRR champions believe the film and its director have garnered enough international box office, buzz and acclaim to take a swing in several categories. – Los Angeles Times/ Tribune News Service