The Quint caught up with RRR director SS Rajamouli and actors Jr NTR and Ram Charan and spoke about the highly anticipated period action drama. In this video, the director talks about his father's influence on him as a filmmaker, what makes him nervous and more. The actors talk about their fan clubs, competition and how their director managed to extract the best out of them.
Rajamouli Sir, I’m curious about your equation with your father, Vijendra Prasad. In most of your films, the story is by your father and then you write the screenplay. How does the writing and the story’s screenplay come around?
SS Rajamouli: We don’t differentiate it like that, a part of the story is written by me and a part of the screenplay is written by him. The title is just for convenience. Once I like an idea, developing it into plot point happens quite fast. Then developing it into a full-fledged first draft takes quite a bit of time, usually 5-6 months. At the end of the day, he is a story writer and I'm a director, so we work in that relation.
How much of an influence was your father in making you a filmmaker or your interest in cinema?
SS Rajamouli: I was a cinema, film-crazed fan from the beginning. There's not much influence of him on me in that aspect, but the sense of drama, but developing an emotion, leading a scene into an emotion, that, I got from him.
Tarak sir, how has SSR evolved as a filmmaker? From Student No. 1 to now RRR, how has he changed, in his way of functioning and also in his way of
relating to actors on sets?
Jr NTR: Well, I really don't think I can talk about his filmmaking talent because that's what he does, he is a filmmaker and I'm an actor, but talking about his growth, I see myself in him. He’s been such a dear friend, philosopher, and guide. He’s been many things to me, but from first movie called Student No. 1 to being the biggest 'R' in the three R(s) is quite a massive journey and I'm very proud of him. The extraction which he gets from his actors has increased in quadruple levels. I must say, his perfection "want" has gone from one level to another. So I just jokingly keep saying that he's got a perfection ka 'keeda' inside his head. So it always keeps, like, fidgeting with his head. He doesn't settle down for a 50 or 60, if he wants a 100, he wants a 100. So he extracts that from his actors, and we’ve seen from his past, how he really tells a story and how he makes the actor a part of it.
Sir, you always seem so calm and composed, but I’m sure that there must be times when there are butterflies in your stomach, there is some nervousness. Is that usually when you write a screenplay and you’re about to narrate it and you don’t know what kind of reaction you are going to get or is it probably before the first day of your shoot, or is at a time like this when you are about to release a film and you don’t how people are going to react or how critics are going to react?
SS Rajamouli: When I write the screenplay, that is the time when I am the happiest, because there is no restriction, there is nothing, it’s just your thoughts that keep flowing. I’m also happy when I'm narrating the story because I’m sure that I can impress my actors with my narration skills. I'm a good storyteller. During the shoot, what tenses me the most is, when we have these big units and something goes wrong. Like, for example, we were shooting the interval sequence for 65 nights. There were about 100 actors flown in from different countries to play their part and each day cost us 75 lakhs. One night of shooting cost 75 lakhs. In those times, if something is not happening on the clock, I get really really tense, I get really really angry, I get really really upset, I blow my top off, during those times. Other than that, I’m pretty much calm and composed and once everything goes out, once the prints are out for delivery and I have nothing else to do, then yes, there is anxiousness, obviously there is confidence and there's anxiousness. Both will be there until the film releases and we get the report.
Watch the video for more.
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