Original subtitles

[distant siren wailing]

[reporter 1] This film is a phenomenon.

170 million plus at the global box office, still going.

Huge reception just recently in Japan.

-[applause] -Um…

It's still playing.

[Rama Rao] This person is born to make films.

He's born to tell stories which…

haven't been told.

[applause]

[roaring]

[tense music]

[roaring]

[growling]

[applause]

For what he visualizes,

he will beg, borrow, steal, kill you

if he needs to,

to get that 100%.

[applause]

[Prabhas] I never met someone like that.

He's a mad person. That's all.

[crowd exclaiming]

[Ram] Sometimes I'm shocked.

I see myself as a third person when I see his films

when I'm working in it.

[cheers, applause]

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

In Indian cinema, there is no bigger filmmaker than S.S. Rajamouli.

[crowd cheering]

[Karan] There isn't. And I don't think there will be for a while.

[intense music]

[birds chirping]

[solemn music]

[Rajamouli] When I think, I like to walk around.

If I sit, I can't think.

I can't think if my car stops.

I can only think if my car moves.

The only thing that I'm a slave to is to my story.

Whatever needs to be done

for that story to be the best possible way,

I have to do it and I will do it.

[solemn music]

[upbeat music]

[Anupama] I was thinking

that we could actually call this documentary

Hyderabad to Hollywood.

[Rajamouli laughing]

-Across the globe. -[Anupama] Across the globe.

-Do you like the title? -[sniffs]

[laughter]

What does it feel like now

to be moving here in the corridors of power?

-[laughs] -What is…

What's going through your head?

To be frank, I should say, um,

a lot of confusion.

Looking at the Hollywood sign and just looking at the places,

going to Universal Studios, looking at the places where my,

some of my favorite films are made, it's like…

It's a… It's a great feeling.

Definitely, there are many things I, I want to learn

that I can learn from here.

It's not like, uh,

like when James Cameron built a camera only so he could…

[mutters]

That guy is amazing, don't compare him with humans.

He is like…

He is some extraordinary being.

[James] Well, we'll talk about it.

You know, that's what we're here to talk about. Yeah.

[Anupama] You know, he's… like I was saying before,

he's, uh, sometimes called "The James Cameron of India"

because of the scale of his vision and the spectacle of his storytelling.

Well, that's quite a compliment.

That's quite a compliment. Thank you.

[laughs]

As filmmakers, now today,

we all have the same influences as we were coming up,

as we were growing up, the things that impressed us.

But he's made it his own in a very, um,

I want to say, a muscular style, but I'm not referring to the strength

and the physicality of the actors.

Although he celebrates that very well.

But it's a very, uh, it's a style that's just got a lot of energy,

a lot of dynamism, a lot of…

It, it kind of sears into your consciousness

in an unforgettable way.

[pensive music]

[Rajamouli] Storytelling was always there.

I was… I was a good storyteller and…

I always had, um,

audience listening with interest

whenever I narrate, uh, a scene.

Right from my childhood, it happened right from my childhood.

[Keeravani] His birth took place in Raichur District.

Among all the siblings, I am the eldest and he's the youngest.

Thus that, uh…

12 years, uh, gap.

[Rajamouli] My mom was completely different from other mothers, I mean like,

she being such a simple lady, uneducated.

She didn't care about my school education.

[Rajamouli laughs]

She thought it was very overrated.

The only thing she would say, she would tell me is like

read a comic, read a storybook, go out, and play.

That… that attitude from my mother,

that really, really helped me in, uh,

in becoming a storyteller.

[train horn honks]

KOVVUR RAILWAY STATION

One thing is in… in my school,

on Saturday, we used to have

two classes for extracurricular activities.

Uh, we were supposed to do all kinds of things,

but the only thing we used to do was like,

I used to go and narrate stories to my friends, to my classmates.

That was a standard practice.

[Keeravani] He was a good student academically.

I mean, in the art field,

there is nothing to distinguish him, uh…

specially.

[pensive music]

The first people to get seduced by the movies in your family

-were the fathers, right? -[Rajamouli] Yes.

[Anupama] Your father, Keeravani sir's father.

In your formative years though, they were seeing failures.

I was, uh, still a kid

when the… when the failures were, um, happening.

Apart from that,

my fathers were always upbeat about… about life.

[Keeravani] It has been their lifetime dream to make movies.

Movies, movies, movies.

But the joke is they were doing all kinds of things

which are not concerned to movies.

They started, uh, like being ghostwriters initially.

[Kanchi] And then they had their own fame.

We started producing movie Pillana Grovi.

It got stuck.

And Rajamouli acted in that movie as a young boy, as Krishna.

[Anupama] Do you remember any kind of sadness in the house, any…

-You know, any… -I remember only sadness in myself.

[Keeravani] With whatever unfinished content,

the rushes… there was no dubbing

because there was no Nagra used.

So, there was no pilot track.

It was just like a silent movie.

[Keeravani] There was a preview theater in Chennai,

so they used to book the theater and, uh,

uh, very often they used to call some buyers, distributors,

and, uh, show the unfinished product

which is the mooky portion only.

My father used to sit in a row

and give live dubbing for all the characters.

I have to sing the entire background score,

amidst, uh,

people and distributors who don't have any sense.

So that, that experience was highly embarrassing.

So finally, one day has dawned where they had to

live on their own.

Literally, we didn't know from where the next meal is coming.

Very, very tricky situation.

Even though my childhood was, uh,

through my father's lots of failures,

it really never affected me until Ardhangi happened.

[solemn music]

[Rajamouli] By the time I was also like in…

[Anupama] You were an associate director on that.

[Rajamouli] Yes, and I was also in my twenties.

Not a teenager or not a kid.

And, uh, I could see what is happening.

[Anupama] Pillana Grovi never released.

This one gets released but flops.

What was that emotion?

What the hell is happening?

We should be successful.

[laughing]

[ceiling fan whirring]

[Vijayendra] So, we thought we would, uh, somehow pass this subject

but it was a miserable failure.

So he said, "I'll go to Hyderabad

and see if I can make a living over there."

[distant chatter]

[solemn music]

[Keeravani] He used to carry a camera all the time with him.

Camera was a part of his body.

Passion for photography is an integral part of moviemaking.

A movie is nothing but a combination

of visuals and sound

and performances.

So I could see, I could see something is coming.

[tense music]

[dramatic music]

-[all] Hi. -[man] What happened?

-Yeah, please go, um… -[both] Yeah.

[man] Hi, good evening.

Hi, good evening.

[indistinct chatter]

Oh, we're just greeting you back…

-Okay, rehearse now. -Okay.

[speaking Telugu]

[laughter]

[speaking Telugu]

-[laughter] -[man shushing]

Their… their hearts are bursting,

they want to shout and scream but Japan being Japan,

-they are not supposed to scream. -Covid protocols.

So, all they can do is clap.

[laughter]

-Yeah, I can… I can actually hear them. -Yeah.

Though they are clapping, but inside, it's like…

-"I want to scream!" -[laughter]

[tense music]

And I promise you,

every ten minutes you will come forward in your seat,

you will laugh with them, you will cry with them.

I am sure you will love them and you will dance with them.

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

[Anupama] All this excitement around the release of RRR,

around you as an artist,

I have to ask

when you first thought to yourself that someday I'll be a film director,

did you ever imagine there would be fans screaming in Tokyo?

[laughs] Yeah!

You're talking about way far back.

Until the release of Baahubali 1,

that is 2015, seven years back,

until then, I never ever imagined

my films will be watched in Japan,

forget about screaming fans.

[laughs]

Seeing them, uh,

rooting for your characters, your story is

such a big, exhilarating…

-Yeah, yeah! -…a thing. Yeah.

So you're carrying forward

this incredible legacy of Telugu cinema,

of films of the epics, of fantasy, of myths,

and taking it to the world.

Is that a correct thesis?

Uh…

No, uh… See… at the base of it,

-I want to tell an incredible story. -[Anupama] Right.

I just want people to get invested in the movie.

[dramatic music]

[Rajamouli] To become a director,

I think it happened when I was working under my father.

When I was narrating the scenes to the directors,

I was envisioning them in a certain way.

But when I saw the films,

they were quite different from how I narrated them

or how I envisioned them in my mind.

So, around some time, I felt like I had to direct, uh,

to get the visuals exactly like how I… how I had in my mind.

[Anupama] You know, I saw this speech you gave, uh,

and you talked about the first day that you directed.

Tell me that story!

-[chuckles] -Your first day as a director.

Um, from Chennai, I shifted to Hyderabad,

and I started looking out for my chances as a director.

At that time, Mr. Raghavendra Rao was appointed

as an advisor to the electronic media

created by the government of Andhra Pradesh,

and they wanted to create some social awareness.

First, a short film about literacy.

I told Rajamouli to come with a good idea.

I narrated the, uh…

my ideas, Raghavendra garu liked it.

Mr. Mukherjee said,

''Okay, the ideas are good. Who is going to direct it?''

I was always under the impression I was going to direct it and, uh,

Raghavendra garu said, "No."

Uh, "Rajamouli is confident he can do it. He will do it."

I knew what to do, I had the shots planned everything,

but the moment the generator started.

[imitates generator whirring]

That sound started and suddenly I got cold feet.

Um, uh, I…

I was so tensed, I was so nervous, I didn't know what to do, how to progress.

Will I be able to do it?

All kinds of doubts start creeping in.

Uh, I had sweaty palms.

And I was looking here and there

and I could see Mr. Mukherjee coming on the scooter to check

how I was doing it.

And suddenly, I realized if he sees me in this state…

-I'm done. -Game over.

[Rajamouli laughs] Game over.

I'm not going to have this chance.

And, it, it…

I didn't even think, it almost came like a natural, uh, a reflex.

I just started, uh, shouting on everyone.

"Get the camera up. What is it? What's the delay?"

"Put the reflector there. Get the artist here, I'm losing my time."

And I… I just started shouting on everyone

as if I was in complete control.

No one knows what to do.

Only I knew what to do.

And I was instructing everything… everyone,

and Mr. Mukherjee who came there,

he saw me and…

I could see the approval nod on his face.

"Okay, this guy knows what he's doing."

So he came with a happy face and he said,

"Ah, Rajamouli, everything under control, no?"

[laughs]

"Uh, yes, sir, everything is under control."

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead, go ahead."

And he… he went away.

[solemn guitar music]

[Keeravani] This serial system has started with ETV.

So, I thought he's the correct one as director.

I gave him 20% of the story.

He made 500 episodes.

[chuckles]

TV serials, you know, they have a, uh…

some number of minutes of output that they have to give and all that.

And he could never achieve it.

My general impression was that he was very…

always very, um,

authentic and wanting to do something more than what was already there.

[Shobu] So if it was television shows he was trying to push within that serial,

which is very boxed…

Serials were so very boxed

in that you could only do so much and he had to do so much output every day.

I think Raghavendra Rao always felt that, uh,

he was a very good technician,

a very good director who had a command on his craft.

[tense music]

[Rama Rao] I had this call one day from, uh,

Mr. Aswani Dutt,

and he said that me and Raghavendra Rao are collaborating together.

"We have started a banner called Swapna Cinema

and, uh, we would like to cast you as the main lead."

So, I jumped up with joy.

I was like, obviously, Raghavendra Rao garu, being a legend.

[dramatic music]

[Rama Rao] And then I went into the office

and, uh, we had the writer of the movie narrate the script to me.

So I was still waiting to hear of the director's name.

I was still thinking that it was Raghavendra Rao garu.

That's when, uh,

Raghavendra garu himself broke the ice and said,

"You know, I have an associate of mine called Mr. Rajamouli."

So I was like, "Okay! So, you're not the director."

[Rama Rao] Aswani Dutt thought, "How can Rajamouli direct

because he is a serial director?"

The doubts were always about

what are we going to do with each other in this movie?

He had a Yamaha bike, I think.

This guy taking his scene,

going on that bike,

going to Raghavendra Rao garu

explaining the scene to him, getting his approval,

coming back to the set,

and shooting the scene with us.

I didn't get much of a recognition for my first film,

and it was a long time before I made my second movie,

-uh, Simhadri. -[Anupama] Ya.

And that was my kind of movie.

I wanted to make sure that it is, like, my,

uh, my film.

At the end of that film, "A Film by S.S. Rajamouli,"

I put the word and the producer of that film said,

"Why is he putting 'A Film by S. S. Rajamouli'?"

-[Anupama] This is for Simhadri? -Uh, for Simhadri.

He said in the film, it should be "A Film by the whole team,"

-and all that, so I was… -Right, right.

I was so scared like,

wouldn't I get the recognition that I…

-that I need because this is my film. -Correct.

So, for Sye, I said, "I should find out something

which says this is my film."

And I started putting this stamp

-which was more out of fear. -[Anupama] The stamp of quality.

[laughter]

After a few years, I started feeling a bit…

odd about it, embarrassed about it.

But by the time it became a feature…

-A feature of the film… -Right. Correct.

So then I started worrying about… I wanted to take it out.

And my producer started worrying about that the distributors will feel bad.

You know, if you are not putting the stamp, then maybe they will think

-you didn't like the film, so… -You don't own it.

-Yeah, you don't… I don't own it. -Right? Right, right.

So now I am stuck with it.

[solemn music]

So many of your family members are playing such key roles in your art.

How does that work?

Because not many filmmakers can work so closely with family.

I think I am, I'm extremely lucky

to have such a family who are so… so protective, uh, about me.

[Anupama] Just tell me about each person of the family who,

right now, works on a Rajamouli film and what do they do?

My grandfather's brother, elder brother,

K Siva Shakthi Datta, he is a lyricist.

[Karthikeya] And then coming to my grandfather, he is a story writer.

And then…

my uncle, who is the music composer, M. M. Keeravani.

And then there is Kanchi babai,

who's like a very key person in, uh, writing the story.

Valli pinni, she is also a line producer, uh, just like me.

And then coming to my dad. He is the director and then…

and then my mom, uh, she is the costume designer.

And then, uh, it's me, and then Bhairava,

who is a singer in our films, I mean, these films,

but he is a music composer. He's done about more than 15 films.

And, uh…

Yeah, that's it, I guess…

[laughs] I'm trying to… No, yeah.

That's it, I guess. Yeah, yeah. [chuckles]

I don't know that family, what those people are doing,

how they are doing it but…

I don't know, there are like 20 people always in a small flat.

Rajamouli has a small flat, three bedrooms… small not big…

Thirty people always.

[Prabhas] His cousins, his cousins' kids.

It's beautiful.

[gentle music]

[inaudible chatter]

[Rama] I met him during my sister's wedding

and he was one amongst many.

Nothing striking as far as I remember.

[Rama] He's my brother-in-law's brother,

so that's how we know each other.

And then, uh…

Yeah. It was not a very romantic thing

because we were both very matured adults

by the time we got into a relationship.

Uh…

But when he proposed, I was actually not ready.

Uh, when he first proposed, I was not yet ready.

[Anupama] Can I ask you how he proposed? I would love to know that.

[laughing]

Again, it's not a very interesting, romantic way.

It was a very casual conversation that happened between both of us.

And then I said, uh, "No, no. You must be mad, just go."

[chuckles]

I mean, I… I was a divorcee.

I had a son by then, so…

I thought it was meaningless for him to, you know,

uh, even come up with this thought.

I know him before he actually became my father, as an uncle.

So when I used to go to Chennai to visit my cousins,

that is Keeravani babai's kids,

and he used to take me, Bhairava and Simha out on,

you know, just bike rides or just get us something to eat.

[Rama] Like everything else,

he is very persistent in his… [laughs]

…uh, this thing, so finally,

after a year or so, I think we thought,

"Okay, we'll go ahead with this."

[dramatic music]

One… one thing I remember for my life…

So, one day he went to his home late after night shoot.

So he knocked the door by mistake,

I think, it got locked or something, his wife was inside.

So he didn't want to disturb his wife,

he slept outside the door whole night and came back to shoot.

And his wife comes and tells me… Rama comes and tells me,

"He didn't wake me up."

I'm like, "Raj, are you mad?" [laughs]

Your sister-in-law, Keeravani sir's wife,

Srivalli played a very key part in your growth.

[Anupama] Uh, you've always talked about how she had a vision for you.

She always believed that… I had a great future.

[Rajamouli] She didn't know what

because I myself didn't know what, at that point of time.

[Srivalli] He never told me about his dreams and ambitions ever.

But he has a habit of telling me stories.

She played a role of a mother to them.

They called her Amma only.

[Rajamouli] She's like a mother hen.

How the mother hen gathers all the chicks under her wings.

So she was like that. All our brothers were like sons to her.

[Anupama] What is the headache of working with Rajamouli?

[Keeravani speaking Telugu]

[speaking Telugu]

[clapping]

[Keeravani] He personally supervises everything.

In that process, the production time is prolonged,

and when he comes back to one particular section,

in a music section,

it is either six months or one year.

We forget what happened previously,

so you lose interest also, sometimes.

I am prepared for that because that's his style.

[rhythmic drum beating]

[grunts]

[rhythmic drum beating]

[Anupama] Do your images come first or does his music come first?

Mostly it is the images. Um…

And sometimes when I explain him the sequence, uh,

he will suggest

such and such a kind of background score,

or such and such a kind of song would look good.

For example, when I narrated him the Rahul Dev episode in Simhadri,

he immediately suggested the Tamil folk song.

[upbeat folk music]

[grunting]

[groans]

[upbeat folk music]

-[grunts] -[Rajamouli] And he said,

"Song playing out in the scene would be great."

[upbeat folk music]

[Keeravani] Three days before the release of the movie,

Vijayendra Prasad garu, my other brother, Kanchi,

they rose a question,

if the hero starts attempting,

I mean, a big massacre program

and suddenly this, uh, devotional song comes in,

we doubt that people may laugh at it.

I did not condemn them immediately because it's a valid doubt.

But finally, I told Rajamouli I came up with a logic.

[Keeravani] The audience are hungry.

They want to see those people die in the hero's hands.

Got song or no song, they are going to enjoy the scene.

Better have the song, it's an experiment. Let's have it.

[upbeat folk music]

[screams]

[upbeat folk music]

[Rajamouli] Now everyone is doing that,

but when we did Simhadri, it was the first time

for a very violent action sequence,

a folk song playing in the background,

never ever, uh, happened.

At least, I don't know of, uh, something happening like that before.

And, uh, he re-recorded…

He re-recorded that song and gave it to me

and we played the song sometimes during the shoot

for some of the sequences to just lift everyone, uh…

to amp everyone's, uh, acting a notch.

[vocalizing]

[in Telugu] First, take off this section, then we'll see where to put it.

[both vocalizing]

[indistinct chatter]

[Rajamouli in English] But sometimes when… when we are like arguing,

"No, yes, no, yes, no, yes…"

He says… suddenly he says,

"This is my quota and I get to do this."

-My president's quota is this. -Yeah, yeah.

And then you, um…

you throw your hands up and you are like, you've won.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. [laughing]

[dramatic music]

[dramatic music continues]

[Anupama] I was reading this lovely thing that Keeravani sir said.

He said, "Watching a film is like eating Upma."

-Oh, okay. -[both laughing]

-[Anupama] Right? -Yeah.

And he said that the…

the hero introduction, the action sequence,

that's like the cashew nuts.

-Yeah. Yeah. -Right?

And you have to…

Like you suddenly come and it's in your mouth

and you're like, "Wah! Here's a cashew nut."

And that's why, in a film, you have to have enough cashews.

Yes. [laughs]

Tell me… I found that just brilliant.

The basic thing how we create, me and my father create the story,

is like, now you have told me the analogy, it's much easier.

I create the cashew nuts, he creates Upma.

[Anupama laughs]

-I love it. -Right? Yeah.

Just Upma is like, it's good,

-but it doesn't give you high. -Correct.

Just cashew nuts, you can't have too many.

-It becomes boring after a while. -Correct, correct.

It's just the combination of Upma and cashew nuts, it's what makes it high.

But there is no calculation about how many it should be there.

But as we are working out, we slowly take out some

and see which are more relevant and which, which should be there.

[Vijayendra] In fact, I can say

by his association,

I sharpened my talent as a storywriter.

He was educating me.

"Papa the time for going around trees and singing songs is over.

I'm not interested anymore.

If there is a song, the song should take the story forward.

It's not imagination, so I don't want them."

[Rajamouli] I'm a director. He's a story writer.

We have a job to do and there is a story there,

and we have to do the best for our story.

If he's not doing his best for the story, uh,

I don't give a second thought in reminding, "No, that is not working.

This is wrong. You have to do that."

[Anupama] Do you get angry when he rejects your stories?

Not angry… idiot.

[laughing]

[dramatic music]

[Anupama] All of you are very spiritual.

-You are people of faith. -Yeah.

But he says, on the record, that he is an atheist.

-Atheist, yeah. -Does that cause any friction?

No, absolutely nothing.

To reach God, four ways are propagated in our Dharma, "Sanatan Dharma."

The Jnana Yoga, the Raja Yoga, the Bhakti Yoga, and the Karma Yoga.

There is no God in Jnana Yoga,

there is no God in Raja Yoga,

there is no God in Karma Yoga.

There is no mention of God.

Only in Bhakti Yoga there is mention of God,

for supreme power and surrendering, uh, yourself.

During Magadheera, I was driving a car and, uh…

we had a bad accident and, uh…

we were in… in a very… [clears throat]

…remote, remote, uh, place.

Rama was like not feeling anything in her…

in her lower back.

Uh, almost like paralyzed.

And the nearest hospital was 60 kilometers away.

I was… I was absolutely terrified.

I was calling the doctors that I know,

all that stuff.

Simultaneously in the back of my mind,

suddenly the thought erupted like,

am I praying to God to, to help me?

And I didn't.

Uh, uh…

I didn't do that.

I just… I was…

literally, frantically…

crying and calling the doctors and doing the stuff that needs to be…

needs to be done.

I think at some point of time, I chose…

Karma Yoga as my way of life.

For a person to be a practicing atheist,

should have high moral fiber in him.

So in a way, I have got highest respect for a person who practices atheism.

My work is my God, yeah. My work is cinema. Yeah, yeah.

[suspenseful music]

[all screaming]

[tense rhythmic music]

-[warriors scream] -[yells]

[man chanting]

[yelling]

Oh, it goes back, uh, to 2007,

just before we started Magadheera.

I would say 2006.

I know my father had seen his film called Simhadri

and my dad was blown away.

In your filmography, Magadheera is really like a…

sharp turn.

It was the first Telugu film to have

the visual effects supervisor listed in its credits.

At that point, do you remember if consciously you felt now,

"I'm going to move to the next phase of my storytelling,"

or did… was it just a natural evolution?

It was a natural evolution. Um…

As we were, uh,

discussing the subject of Magadheera,

I knew that I had come to, uh…

a place that I was envisioning for a long time.

[Rajamouli] The kind of movie that I wanted to make.

The producer being confident in me to put the kind of money

that is required to make that film.

I knew I have reached that, uh, space.

[tranquil music]

[rattling]

[indistinct shouts]

[indistinct chatter]

[pants]

[engines revving]

[Ram] He made me sit one day, we were in the lawn.

I don't remember which place.

"What are you good at? What have you learned?"

"What martial arts have you done?"

"What kind of training have you gone?"

"I believe you have done horse riding."

So he was,

you know, grasping as much as possible about all the abilities.

[Ram] And what I like also,

each and every element I spoke about in that lawn,

was there in Magadheera.

And, of course, I'm, I'm so happy

that he was my second director.

[screaming]

[epic music]

[crowd cheering]

[screams]

[Anupama] On Magadheera, Pete, your VFX specialist told me,

you told him you want flowers here, flowers here, flowers here.

You placed it all and then you said that in the next shot,

I want something else, like flowers will move here, here.

And he said… I spent so long saying to him,

"Continuity! What about the classic rule of continuity?"

And he said, you said to him that you'll figure it out.

Continuity doesn't matter.

[laughing]

[tense music]

[warriors screaming]

[Rajamouli] We forget when… when we are adhering to the rules,

"Why those rules were made in the first place?"

So at that particular point of time,

even though there is a jump in the continuity,

you feel that the audience are not going to notice it.

They're going to get carried away by the emotion.

And there's a reason why we shift the flowers and everything,

that frame should look good.

Probably in that particular frame,

audience are more invested in seeing the beauty of the screen

or the scene rather than the continuity of where the flowers are.

Well, he said by the end of the film he agreed with you completely.

-Yeah. He did. -[both laughing]

[intense drum beating]

[Ram] I remember during Magadheera, there was a scene

where we have to do the drums,

and one of the drums was shaking a lot

and it had to be nailed properly.

They were not just doing it properly, it was still shaking.

Probably it was a technical thing of nailing it the right way.

[Ram] He said, "Everybody get out from the frame."

And he moved it.

He saw… He saw that small gap.

Then he said, "Get me the ply."

He started hitting.

I'm like, "Oh, God, when is this going to finish?"

Because he's not a carpenter.

All of us are seeing Mr. Rajamouli hit the nails.

[laughs]

That is to the art department's coffin.

[Rajamouli] And when Magadheera was made and released

and became the blockbuster hit that it was,

it was like, the pieces were already falling in place,

now, now, it is now taking shape.

Now you can see the shape being formed.

-And with Eega, which I consider your… -Yeah.

…sort of most spectacular thought.

[scraping]

[buzzing]

[swooshes]

[clinks]

["My Name Is Nani" playing]

♪ My name is Nani ♪

[Anupama] Did you ever have a moment of panic there?

Because, again, your budgets were out of control.

The fly wasn't moving perfectly.

You were trying very hard to make this convincing.

I think I created the panic for the…

for the studio, for the visual effects studio.

[Rajamouli] I didn't have panic. I knew it was not coming out through.

There was a bit of a scare that it is not working out.

It is a hurdle in the filmmaking.

There will be solution. We have to figure it out.

It will come. You have to be patient.

You have to be clear in your thought process

and the solution will present itself.

["My Name Is Nani" playing]

[Rana] With Eega, I got a little more insight because, uh,

my dad was one of the producers on the film

and it started off as a very small film.

Uh, and eventually got into becoming

a big 30-40 crore plus kind of picture in terms of making

because of the way the visual effects were and all of it.

[tense music]

[Rajamouli] When I told Pete,

the visual effects supervisor of Makuta, that after six months of work

that we are going to chuck this out and start afresh,

I think he had a panic attack. [laughs]

He had the dark night of the soul.

-Yes. Not me. -[Anupama] Not you.

[Rana] He'd used a lot of innovative ways to build that story at that point.

He's worked with film school students.

He's worked with newcomers.

He had interesting programs that he got,

and he really pulled in a new influx of people

from the industry that were there.

Rajamouli had a marker that he was going with

catching moments of the fly

and then Sudeep just had to look and give the reaction.

[Rana] It was just unreal what they were doing.

And if you were watching from a distance,

you actually have no idea what's going on.

But then you watch it back on edit and in the film

and you're like, "Okay, wow!"

[suspenseful music]

[dramatic music]

[tense music]

[clanking]

That's a film far more difficult to make than Baahubali, also.

I mean, it's convincing you with the revenge drama of a housefly.

I think it's the absolute most original idea…

[sniffs] …anyone can ever come up with.

[epic music]

[screaming]

[Karthikeya] I started working on Eega as an apprentice in the production team.

He, like, tried to give out that vibe for…

That's what I learned because I was 18 then.

[Karthikeya] You know, I'm the director, now this is work, you are working.

So once he realized that I understood the ethic of work,

then it was just… he's the same person.

[Anupama] Is he very different, Karthikeya, from…

the man he is on a set to the man he is at home?

[Karthikeya] Obviously, he would be a little more stressed at shoot

and more relaxed at home, you know.

But he doesn't carry anything home.

[indistinct shout]

[Anupama] When he is not filming, he's lazy?

[Rama] He is very lazy.

He won't sleep, but he can just, you know, laze on this couch,

then the room, and then here, then there.

His shooting his work or a game.

He loves playing whatever game, volleyball or cricket.

[Rama] So, these are the only two things that can bring him out.

Otherwise, he is very lazy.

[Rajamouli] A sport is like a meditation.

When I'm playing volleyball, cricket, tennis,

my whole focus is on the ball.

Nothing else come… comes to my mind.

[indistinct shouts]

[Anupama] Rama said that earlier when you used to go on holidays,

you would have a very strict schedule.

[laughing]

-You would create… -Yeah.

-…for everyone to follow. -Yeah.

And then all the kids just rebelled and said,

-"We are not doing this." -Yes.

Can you tell me about this?

I think the middle-class mentality of, uh, trying to fit

as many things as possible in a… in a given time frame.

[Rama] This is one thing that they really make fun of him

and then they call him the tourist guide because he's there in the morning.

He used to give us a schedule.

He says, "Everybody be here by seven."

And then we go there and then we have breakfast there,

and then we see something and then this and then and that.

And then they said, "Okay, Baba, this is not your set, okay?

We are not listening to you. This is a holiday.

We are not getting up at seven o'clock.

We are not coming.

If you want to go, you can go." [laughs]

So finally we, you know, give him like, you know, every alternate day,

not the full day also,

you can plan one thing, like one activity or whatever you feel like doing,

the rest of the days,

just leave it to us and let it be like a vacation.

[waves splashing]

[inaudible chatter]

[Anupama] What are the thoughts in your head? What, um…

Are you constantly thinking about stories and images?

[Rajamouli] It's not always stories.

I think about my farm, I think about my family,

about… about holidaying,

or next game that I am going to play,

or all kinds of stuff.

We went to Bali and in the… in the city center, one of the centers,

there's a statue of Karna and Ghatotkach fighting against each other.

The moment I saw it, this has to be in my film.

[laughs] This has to be in my film.

I have to build up the scene to this, uh, particular point.

[Prabhas] So he told me like,

"Darling, I want to make a very big film."

One day he approached me,

"Father, I decided to make a movie with Prabhas."

It should be a period movie.

Total period movie.

I don't want any supernatural things.

[Vijayendra] And I want some grey characters.

[tense music]

There is someone called Baahubali.

[Prabhas] When he goes to a war, he comes back without a scratch.

This is the second scene he narrated to me.

And I'm like, "Wow!"

[dramatic music]

[Rana] The producer, Shobu, first came.

He just said it's a period war-based kind of film and, uh,

we're looking at you to play the antagonist.

[Rana] Are you interested?

And I said, "I definitely would love to listen to it."

And I asked him at the end of the day, I said, uh,

"Who's the other one you went to before you came to me?"

He said we tried to reach Jason Momoa from Game of Thrones.

I said, "Okay, that's a good second number."

We all heard the story and, uh,

we realized one, that it is, uh, lengthy.

I mean, it's not…

It doesn't fit into one film,

and, uh, two, it's going to be… take a lot of…

Uh, I mean the budgets are going to be pretty big.

When the journey started I was 20,

um, and then when we started to shoot, I was 21, I guess.

[Karthikeya] So those four or five years,

it was just that, I mean, it was nothing else.

My sisters and Shobu garu's kids, they used to come there,

they used to go to the same school. They finish school at three,

by the time they get there, it would be 5:30,

and just before we finished shoot, they would come,

you know, just roam around, and it became home for us

and that became family.

[dramatic music]

[indistinct chatter]

[laughter]

Everything that was, uh, spent,

a bulk of it, 90%,

or maybe 95% or 100% went into the film production.

[Shobu] We all traveled economy,

uh, when we had to shoot the episodes in Mahabaleshwar.

We literally… We actually all of us, Rajamouli, and all of us,

including the entire unit, stayed in one lodge.

So, in Mahabaleshwar,

it was one nice hotel.

He gave us for the actors and Rajamouli was staying somewhere else.

I was like, "Why are you staying there? This is nice."

"No, no, no. I want to save the budget."

[Prabhas] So he stayed in some stupid, stupidest hotel.

No clean bathrooms and all.

I never met someone like that.

He's a mad person. That's all.

Only he can make Baahubali. [laughs]

[Shobu] It has all vegetarian food.

There was no non-veg served, which was not the norm at that time.

We didn't want to do where some X people

or the top ten people got non-veg

and the rest didn't get non-veg.

[Shobu] Definitely, we cut a lot of corners.

[tense music]

[Rajamouli] I could see the budget was much bigger than what we anticipated.

We are okay even if it is 100 crores, we can take the risk.

But as the story was going through, I could see it is like,

we are going much more than that.

It started with, okay,

now, this is a really, really expensive movie

that we end up making.

It's far bigger than anything that Telugu has seen.

[loud thud]

[people chanting indistinctly]

[Shobu] Obviously, the thought was,

how do we take it into Hindi and make it a better,

uh, extend the market?

We needed, uh, someone to hold the film

and present the film

and stand by the film in the Hindi market.

I called Karan, uh, spoke to him on the phone.

I remember he wasn't in Bombay, he was traveling.

He said, "Rana, you're saying you're making a 200 crore war film in Telugu."

I said, "Yeah."

[tense music]

[shouts indistinctly]

[Karan] So I was like, "I would love to meet you.

Can I please meet?" And he was like, "Yes, of course."

And I was like, so mesmerized that I was meeting him

because like, he had made Magadheera and he had made Eega

and he had made every movie that I had seen and loved.

[Rana] So Shobu and I decided to just do stills.

So in slide three, he saw Prabhas in the waterfall and he said,

"It looks like Avatar." I said, "That's it. Okay, we are sold."

I was like blown away by the scale and I was like,

if you position it as the biggest motion picture made in India,

it will get eyeballs.

We'll have to write that line.

["Dhivara" by Deepu and Ramya Behara playing]

[Rana] It was the first introduction to Karan

in terms of understanding what the South Indian industry was

and really was that pan-Indian moment that, that happened for all of us.

["Dhivara" by Deepu and Ramya Behara playing]

I felt honored that he actually had me to present the film.

And he just trusted me immediately with like…

the vision of taking it to a pan-Indian audience.

[suspenseful music]

Baahubali, the first part, I thought it was very good.

It will work.

But the only thing was

the budget was way above the, you know, usual films.

[Rama] So we don't know if we're going to collect so much.

So if it doesn't collect so much, it is a flop.

Shobu said that… He said, "I didn't know only." It wasn't coming…

He blanked out two, three days before.

[both laughing]

-[Anupama] You could tell he's gone. -Yeah.

Because he spent so much money,

absolutely crazy amount of money and he doesn't know what's happening,

everything is out of his hands.

The film has to become a super duper hit for him to get out of waters.

[Rana] Karan had a screening at Yash Raj.

I suddenly see like, Karan has obviously called like, half the industry is there

and people sat and I could hear people talking in the rest of the first half.

I was like, "Guys, why are you talking?

Why is everyone talking?" And my palms are sweating and…

by which time like, I get like, five missed calls from Prabhas

and some five missed calls from Karthikeya.

Like my heart is sinking now just thinking about it.

It was about, uh…

1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m.

We were planning to go for the 6:00 a.m. show.

And about 3:00 a.m. in the night,

there was a lot of negative reviews.

[solemn music]

[Karthikeya] People thrashing the film, thrashing Dad,

people's time he wasted, money, and everything is just gone.

[Shobu] The reactions were not as euphoric as…

the talk was that it was a big letdown.

Uh, the film was a big letdown.

Into the second half, every five minutes they started clapping.

[cheers, applause]

[Rana] Everything had got a reaction.

I am saying, things from Kalakeya's entry is getting a reaction.

Me walking in is getting a reaction.

I was like, what just happened?

And that's it. It was…

right all the way till the end.

It was like, they just stood up and started clapping.

It was just me sitting. I was like, "Okay, this is it.

We have victory to another…" Like, Bombay has stood up.

But the main crux, where the money has to come

and where it has to perform,

that is in my two Telugu states, the talk was not good.

-Average. -Okay.

In Telugu, it's a disaster talk.

Over expectations… I'm somewhat disappointed.

And the ones in Hyderabad weren't saying the same things.

I said, "Guys, are we watching the same movie? What's happening?"

And I tell all my friends in the night before the release of every film, I say,

"Call me only if it's a blockbuster, wake me up.

Otherwise, don't wake me up."

So, no one woke me up.

And when I woke up, I was like…

when Bollywood says it's beautiful,

Telugu, definitely, will say much bigger.

That's the idea we had.

Forget part two.

I mean, how are we going to get out of this first?

You know, that was a question.

And it was time for us to leave for our show.

So I just went up.

I went up the stairs and I saw Dad was walking in the corridor

and he was looking into his phone.

I looked at him, he looked at me and he understood.

He just asked me to come here

and we just hugged each other and I was just crying.

And that… that feeling. I mean, I don't know.

I mean, it was… it was very… I mean, it was…

Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I don't know what to call it also.

At that point, my biggest fear was that…

I have put Shobu into a lot of trouble.

[Rajamouli] It was such a surrealistic time.

I cannot pinpointedly tell you what my mindset was.

I can just give you a rough idea.

Yes, we were troubled. We were really troubled.

You know, people started telling us,

now, the families have started coming in.

They've started, you know, actually watching the movie.

It just changed overnight.

[epic music playing]

[people shouting indistinctly]

[in Telugu] The film is very good.

The special effects are nice.

Super!

[dramatic music playing]

[popping]

[in English] The collections from the matinee show were coming out.

They were increasing.

One of the best movies of this Telugu film industry.

[tense music]

Collections were like, mind-bogglingly good.

[in Telugu] The film was very good.

[in English] I'm just speechless. It's amazing.

And Rajamouli is like a genius.

[Karthikeya] And that's when we actually started breathing

and started feeling normal.

We were shaking.

Just like I said when I heard that it was… the film was not doing…

received well initially… like how I blanked out.

I think I just blanked out. [laughs]

And I regret now that I did not relish that,

cherish that moment as much as I should have

or all of us should have.

Just like Sholay,

where you hear from Mr. Bachchan and Javed saab and Salim saab

and Ramesh Sippy, they'll tell you how the first week

everyone thought Sholay was a disaster.

So the equivalent of that is now one day, right?

Because those… it took a week to fester and stuff like that.

Baahubali 1, we released with, uh… with a deficit.

So, Baahubali 2 again was like a 250 crore film or something,

and add 30 crores deficit to it.

It still had to perform a lot before any of us could see some money.

[dramatic music]

[Anupama] What did you do then

when that second film hit a thousand crore?

It's a figure none of us have ever seen.

[Rajamouli] The poster that's been made with Prabhas, and I just saw it

and he is sitting on it

in the red dress with 1,000 crore.

We were quite elated.

[dramatic music]

Today, I think just like Sholay and I compare it with good reason

because I do believe Baahubali is the Sholay of our times.

[epic music]

[Anupama] With the success also, though, has come

a higher scrutiny of your cinema.

[Anupama] I read pieces on how Baahubali is being read

as a text that, sort of, supports casteism,

because Kattappa is shown as lower caste, right?

I always say this as a filmmaker,

I'm very greedy.

I need more, more audiences.

How do I refine my, uh, storytelling

to include more number of, uh, people?

It's a constant, uh, thinking.

But at the same time, I shouldn't stop

being myself.

I shouldn't change my, uh, my basic mindset.

The only thing that I am…

that I'm a slave to is to my story.

You know, you were criticized for that one scene

-which you presented as romantic… -Yeah.

…uh, between Shivudu and Avantika.

[Anupama] But it was, the idea was that okay,

but she's not consented to any of this.

[dramatic music]

[Rajamouli] I don't think many people understand

what's the character of Avantika. She's a warrior

because I have shown her as a warrior.

Everyone thinks she's a warrior, but she's a reluctant warrior.

She doesn't want to be that.

[Rajamouli] You can see, uh,

in the way she looks at her image in the reflection in the water.

She doesn't want to be warrior.

[pensive music]

She wants to be a woman and Shivudu has seen that,

he has observed that she wants to be beautiful.

[Rajamouli] Avantika points the sword at his heart

and here in front of her is a guy who is talking to her even

with the blood coming out of his heart.

He is talking about what is that you really, really want.

Is it a fight or is it love?

There are more subtle hints where there is consent.

At that point of time, Shivudu doesn't understand what they are fighting for.

But in Shivudu's point of view, both don't need to be separated.

If you are a fighting warrior that doesn't mean you have to be a…

You don't have to be a… a beautiful, loving woman.

As I want to include more and more audiences into my film,

so showing the women in a certain way,

I'm losing more audience than gaining them.

Even though there are Devasena or Sivagami,

the strongest characters on, on Indian screen,

still I would be criticized. But I think there…

they don't understand drama, they don't understand storytelling.

[dramatic music]

[Anupama] In my head, you work on your heroes in the way

Yash Chopra used to work on the heroines.

You know, like every actress wanted to be a Yash Chopra heroine.

Like, I'm sure every male actor wants to be your hero.

[Anupama] You create such incredible sort of personas for them.

Tell me about that.

[Rajamouli] Throughout the history of mankind,

uh, human beings were subjected to injustice

by men who are in powerful positions,

by people who are in powerful positions,

and every person cannot rebel.

Every person cannot fight.

[Rajamouli] They just look up to someone

who comes and delivers them out of the injustice, no?

Me too.

I, too, like that kind of heroes, so uh…

At the base of it, that is what I have, you know?

A very powerful, uh…

man.

Sometimes he might not know what his strength is,

or sometimes he…

he just doesn't use his strength unless…

it is needed.

Those are the kind of heroes that I have.

And then I create a situation where he has to show his, uh, strength.

-[Anupama] He discovers. -He discovers or he has to.

[Rajamouli] I just love my heroes being like this.

That's how I like it. That's how I imagine them to be.

[grunting]

[tense music]

Yeah, you know, Rajamouli's heroes are not like… are not heroes.

They are weapons.

[laughs]

In a way, it is true.

All the heroes are like missiles and the directors are like launchpads.

[Rajamouli] A missile wouldn't go anywhere without a launch pad, and…

the launch pad would… can do nothing

if there is, uh, there is no weapon.

The combination of director and hero, at least for, uh,

for my kind of films, or commercial films, that's essential.

As a young kid, we learned that Kauravas are bad,

Pandavas are good,

Ravana is bad, Rama is good.

But as you grow up, as you read more into it,

it is not so simple.

[suspenseful music]

I like Ravana more than Rama

-because of his… -[Anupama] Really?

Yeah, yeah, he is, uh…

[Rajamouli] He is a fantastic character.

It is quite complicated.

The characters are more colorful.

I love my villains to be very, very strong,

uh, feared.

People should have a feeling like,

how can anyone beat this guy?

[tense music]

[Rajamouli] Bhallaldeva, I would say,

is more layered.

As you watch him, as you see him,

he's not such a simple guy, like, "I want my throne."

There's an amount of, uh…

-sadness… -Yeah.

There is a… even though it's, uh,

not justified, uh…

You don't feel like hating him.

[Rana] I was sucked into the world like the audience would be

while I was on that set.

I mean, because it was… I used to think I was that guy.

I behaved with Prabhas like I was Bhallaldeva.

And I think that's… that's not me.

But that's probably Bhallaldeva rubbing over time and becoming that.

[Ram] We don't have to do something.

He will make you do it.

He will push you beyond your potential,

beyond your capacity to achieve that feat.

And he will introduce you to yourself in completely a brand-new way.

[Anupama] Would he enact scenes?

[Rama Rao] Yep, absolutely.

And he's a fabulous actor.

He never wants to come in front of the camera,

but yeah, he's a fabulous actor.

[speaks indistinctly]

[grunts]

[Rama] All the emotions, what you see on screen,

is there in his, uh, narration.

He's one of the very few directors we have in India today

who can actually make you see what you are…

what he's narrating. You know, you're excited,

your concentration levels are like up there.

You have these expressions going on in your…

on your face, even without your knowledge.

Nowadays, I'm trying to, uh…

get my actors, um…

into the world of the character as much as I can

before even I start the shoot, um,

sometimes just before the shoot,

sometimes just before the shot.

[Rajamouli] Not telling them what to do, but trying to make them understand

what the character is feeling at that exact moment.

So, how he feels about the actor will…

bring in his own contribution to that.

And as a director, I will be seeing whether that is right or not.

[Prabhas] He grows on the character.

So we need to understand with him,

and we need to understand, like, "Okay, now he's going like this.

So we need to discuss…"

Actors are, in a sense, co-creating with you.

Not actually creating, I would say discovering.

[indistinct chatter]

[Ram] The way a director sees a person or a scene is completely different

from what an actor like my dad sees or a producer can imagine.

That's why we call him a visionary.

[dramatic music]

[Rama] He's so focused, he's so focused

that his mind will not, you know, waiver this side and that side.

It's just on what he's doing.

I can't think if I'm, uh…

talking to one person about something

and someone comes and says a much more important thing,

I can't get two ideas,

uh, two things going in my mind at the same time.

[Keeravani] Your mental energy,

your time, your money, everything…

everything is limited.

When you concentrate, when you spend it on one subject,

you're most likely, you are…

you're successful,

99.9%.

[Keeravani] If you want your dreams to come true,

you have to forget everything and concentrate on one.

That's what Rajamouli does.

When he starts the movie,

he completely puts his mind on it.

He being, uh, so anal about everything,

the arrows had to be in line and he used to draw, uh, put a rope

from point A to point B.

[Ram] The bows have to be in that, balanced and kept on that rope

and then he removes the rope

and starts shooting from the profile.

So all the arrows are on the line.

[tense music]

[Rama] They used to call him Pani Rakshasudu.

It means that like, you know,

demon of work or whatever.

-[groaning] -[indistinct chatter]

So we had this sequence where

he wanted to showcase fire and water.

[Rama Rao] And I was supposed to look straight.

Like, into the camera with this snarly look.

Like, I'm the water now.

It's humanly impossible

where you don't know where the hosepipe is gonna hit you.

You don't know if it's gonna hit you on the face.

You don't know if it's gonna hit you on your body.

You don't know where it's gonna go and hit you, where.

A small blink…

One more.

[Rama Rao] It usually takes like close to half an hour

to set it up again.

So then there was no blink.

But there was this…

I was feeling a little conscious.

Cut. One more.

I remember there was a last assistant, the 12th man on this team.

We did fantastic, such a beautiful shot.

And Rajamouli shook my hands and shook Tarak's hands

and like, let's move on. And that one guy comes and says, "Sir".

He said, "Yeah?"

"There is that junior artist…

[in Hindi] He is smiling in that shot."

"Let's leave it, he is somewhere in the 5th line or 10th line."

[in English] He said, "Sir."

"Playback." He saw the shot.

[sighs] Sorry, jaan, one more.

You know this person for so many years,

you start feeling that he's got no empathy at all.

And you start feeling that.

[Rama Rao] He's a madman.

There's no point arguing with him.

Just deliver what he expects from you.

Just deliver what he wants.

Get out of here.

[ominous music]

[Rajamouli] By the time we come to the shoot,

uh, more than the creativity, it is like,

we have to complete certain amount of shots,

uh, in, in a certain day.

[Rajamouli] If I empathize with the, uh…

the hero and say, "Okay, you can go,"

the work is going to get further delayed

which is going to affect my next shoot,

next day of shoot, or next sequence.

So I try to be a very hard man

and I try not to listen to their troubles but I do listen, I understand,

I… I pretend not to.

I have seen mics break.

[mutters]

I just hope it was not one of my,

you know, properties there whenever you sit with him.

-Ready? -[man] Ready, sir!

Ready. Roll camera!

[man] Rolling.

[Ram] That's what I'm saying, immediately now, he's like,

"The department is not doing, let me go do the carpentry work."

"Let me go do the horse riding

and why the horse is not jumping from here."

He is hands-on.

He is not sitting near the plastic chair, near the monitor, and saying,

"Ram will do it." No, he did it!

[tense music]

[people shouting indistinctly]

[pained grunt]

[people clamoring]

[men grunting]

-[Anupama] Like in RRR… -Yeah.

[Anupama] When did you see this like, crazy perfectionism?

During "Naatu Naatu" song.

[Anupama] Tell me. I wanna hear this.

I mean, uh…

I mean, if you speak to Tarak, he would say that it's…

I know every… every, uh, age, every couple,

every mother and father,

every mother and son,

they're doing this step across,

uh, across the country.

But when I see that song, I see an enjoyment,

I see a sense of satisfaction, but…

huge pain!

A sense of lots of pain.

I can still see my muscle twitching if I see that song.

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

It's like the muscle memory kicks back… kicks in

and I know my calf muscle starts twitching.

"Are you going to make me do this again?"

"No, no, I'm just watching the song."

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

[Rama Rao] He was talking about

both of us having this complete

insane synchronization

where to a level… where to an extent that this guy,

this person was actually step-freezing the shots

and measuring the hands,

the length of the hands.

Are they in the perfect sync?

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

[Rama Rao] I was recovering from a severe viral.

He went slow for about two days

and then when he noticed that I'm fine…

[snaps fingers] …started off.

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

[Rama Rao] It was such an organic…

revolution called "Naatu Naatu".

Everybody started doing "Naatu Naatu" again.

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

Like, how do you do it?

How did you know that this is exactly what the audiences are gonna catch?

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

[Jenna] And the Golden Globe goes to…

"Naatu Naatu," RRR.

[cheers, applause]

Amazing news that "Naatu Naatu" from RRR

has won Best Song at the Golden Globe Awards.

[reporter 2] Today is a day for a huge celebration.

[announcer] This is the first nomination and first win for this writing team.

They win their Golden Globe tonight for their music and lyrics

of "Naatu Naatu" in RRR.

Accepting the award is M.M. Keeravani.

[Keeravani] This award belongs to my brother

and the director of the movie, S.S. Rajamouli.

[cheers, applause]

["Naatu Naatu" by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj playing]

[Anupama] Your journey, Rajamouli, I feel like

you started as a storyteller primarily

-for Telugu-speaking states, right? -Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

Within 10-15 years, you were a pan-India director.

Now here we are in Tokyo,

-and you are a global director. -[chuckles]

-Hopefully. Yeah. -No, you are.

Why hopefully? You are a global director, right?

For a film to, to break out at such a high commercial level,

you know, with such a degree of international acceptance,

you know, it must just be sort of sinking in that, that…

you know, he's now a global… a global cinema icon.

I think people have been blown away by RRR in Hollywood.

I just think that the level of craft exhibited in here

is equal to any major film that comes out of Hollywood,

any large-scale movie.

And the critics' choice is…

RRR.

-[cheers, applause] -[Rajamouli] To all the…

women in my life,

my wife, Rama,

my sister-in-law, uh, Srivalli,

my mother, Raja Nandini,

finally to my motherland, India, Bharat.

India is great. Jai Hind!

[in English] Thank you.

[Joe] Good storytelling is good storytelling,

filmmaking that is inclusive, filmmaking that, um,

brings the largest amount of people in under a tent

where regional voices, uh,

can tell a regional story that translates to all.

I think that is the best kind of filmmaking.

He wants to tell these stories to the coming generations to keep up the…

the rich cultural heritage of our country alive.

[dramatic music]

[camera shutters clicking]

[Deepika] Do you know "Naatu"?

Because if you don't, you're about to.

The first song ever from an Indian production

to be nominated for an Oscar.

[cheers, applause]

You guys ready? Ooh…

[gasps] RRR.

[Janelle] RRR. RRR.

[Janelle whoops]

[announcer] Chandrabose, originally earned a degree

for electrical and electronics engineering

before becoming a lyricist.

Composer, M.M. Keeravani,

lists John Williams as one of his musical influences.

[applause]

[audience cheering]

Thank you, Academy.

I grew up listening to The Carpenters…

[audience laughs]

…and now here I am with the Oscars.

[sighs]

♪ There was only one wish on my mind ♪

[audience laughs]

♪ So was Rajamouli's and my family's ♪

♪ RRR has to win ♪

♪ Pride of every Indian ♪

[audience cheers]

♪ And must put me On the top of the world ♪

[audience cheering]

It's not only about RRR,

it's about India as a country.

And today, it's not our film, it's not our song,

it has become the people's song and the people have owned it so much.

[dramatic music]

He is absolutely in the bracket of legends and greats already.

He's already a legend.

Now, he can become like an even bigger legend.

Do you ever think about what about you…

so, made this journey possible?

Each one… Each director is different.

Each, uh, each one is different.

I mean, Satyajit Ray, he is the first, uh,

director who brought global recognition to India.

He won the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.

-So, uh… -[Anupama] Yeah.

And for us from, uh, uh…

Mani Ratnam sir is, like… He is the guy who…

-who brought the South cinema to Hindi. -[Anupama] Yeah.

Roja and Bombay were… Dil Se, he's the director who did it.

So it's not that I'm the… I'm the first person to do it.

There were people before me who did it,

but they take a different path, I take a different path.

I know for a fact that there have been a lot of conversations about how, uh,

he could work on a large-scale movie, uh, um…

produced through Hollywood, um,

and I don't think there's anyone that doubts that he could do it.

I think the question is whether he wants to do it, or whether he wants to continue

to work the way that he has and working outside the system.

And he certainly has the respect to be able to do anything

and work with anybody, you know.

So it's really just up to his personal desire as an artist.

I can't imagine that, uh,

Western actors wouldn't be interested

in working with somebody that's such a consummate filmmaker.

[dramatic music]

[Ram] And going across boundaries,

be it India, Japan, USA,

it's not that he has planned it.

Yes, there is a certain vision behind it,

and there is a great team that he has

that will help him cross these boundaries.

He is here to conquer the world.

[dramatic music]

Roll camera…

Action.

[Rajamouli] Cut. Going too fast…

[epic dramatic music]