RRR: SS Rajamouli on casting Jr NTR, Ram Charan, Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn in upcoming multi-starrer

Rajamouli, Jr NTR, Ram Charan and producer Dannaya met the media today, on 14 March, at Hyderabad to give the basic gist and what audiences can expect from the film.“The genesis of the plot is actually inspired from Motorcycle Dairies. I was fascinated by the idea of revealing that the story of the man whom we saw so far in the film was actually Che Guevara. Later, when I was reading about two celebrated freedom fighters Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju, thought their story should be told to people across the nation,” said Rajamouli.Ram Charan plays Alluri Sitarama Raju and Jr. NTR plays Komaram Bheem in RRR. Answering a question on why Rajamouli chose Telugu actors when he could have gone ahead casting leading stars from other languages as they would be ready to work with him, especially after the massive success of Baahubali, Rajamouli said: “This film demands two Telugu speaking actors. Moreover, I feel that if we stay true to the storyline and create necessary emotional impact, audiences from other languages wouldn’t mind seeing unfamiliar faces as the protagonists. We also finalised actors like Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn because a crucial part of the story happens in North India.”The Baahubali filmmaker also clarified, “I’m not going to reveal what we all know about Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju. There were no details about a few years of their lives in authentic books and history. My film is a fictitious take on what if these two freedom fighters met, interacted and fought for a common cause.” Rajamouli also added that the film is set in the pre-independence era.When asked what if either Ram Charan or Jr NTR said no to the film, the filmmaker said: “I would have dropped the idea and moved on with a different story”. Together, Ram Charan and NTR said that RRR happened because of two reasons — the bond they share in real life and the confidence they have on Rajamouli.Talking about Alia Bhatt’s character in the film, Rajamouli said: “For me, powerful women characters should be mentally strong and in this film, Alia plays one such role. Her character name is Sita and she plays a very crucial role in taking the story forward. I met her at an airport and casually narrated the story, she gladly came on board. In RRR, the supporting characters are very important so we signed strong performers like Alia, Ajay Devgn, Samuthirakani and British actress Daisy Edgar Jones”.Rajamouli also revealed Alia is paired opposite Ram Charan in the film and Daisy Edgar Jones is Jr. NTR’s pair. The film’s producer Dannaya said: “So far we have completed two schedules and the next set of the shoot will be happening in Ahmedabad and Pune. RRR is being made at a budget of 350-400 crores and it will be releasing in more than ten Indian languages on 30 July, 2020”.When asked whether he has any pressure to portray the two freedom fighters with dignity because a section will get offended if anything goes wrong, Rajamouli confidently said: “I generally portray normal characters as superheroes. In this film, I got two superheroes so imagine how I would have glorified their characters.”The filmmaker also added that he approached Ram Charan and Jr.NTR only after finalising the story and not the vice versa. “After watching the film, both Jr. NTR and Ram Charan’s characters will stay in your mind”, he said.Rajamouli confirmed that RRR is the official title of the film in all languages. “We invite audiences to suggest the full form of RRR. If they come up with a better abbreviation, we will finalise it in respective languages”, said Rajamouli.When asked about the buzz on the filmmaker’s version of Mahabharata, he said: “A part of my brain will always think about Mahabharata. It will be probably my last film”.