Director S.S. Rajamouli confirmed during a screening in Chicago that a sequel to his blockbuster period action film is in the works. “My father is the story writer for all my films,” Rajamouli said, via Variety. “We discussed a bit about [‘RRR 2’] and he’s working on the story.” Rajamouli’s father, screenwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad, penned the first film. “RRR” made history as the most expensive Indian film with a reported budget of $72 million. The Telugu-language movie centers on real-life revolutionaries Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr., known as NTR Jr) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) who fight for freedom from the British in the 1920s. Rajamouli told IndieWire that he “would love to” focus on an “RRR” sequel. “I need to have a story first. I’ve discussed a few possible ideas that didn’t go very far,” he said. “But if something interesting comes up, there’s no stopping it.”
“RRR” is India’s third highest-grossing movie of all time and is the only non-English language film to trend globally for 10 consecutive weeks on Netflix. The film was expected by critics to be India’s Oscar entry for Best International Feature; however, the drama “Last Film Show” was officially submitted for Academy Award consideration. IndieWire’s Eric Kohn called the decision a “shock on many fronts” due to Rajamouli’s “RRR” being a “rare crossover event movie from India.” Kohn wrote, “The breakout success of ‘RRR’ in the U.S. inspired Rajamouli and his producing team to launch an awards campaign ahead of the submission process, financed by his own production company.” Rajamouli has since signed with CAA for representation and announced in September 2022 that he was helming a yet-untitled feature starring Mahesh Babu, with production starting in spring 2023. Rajamouli also told IndieWire that he would be open to making a film in Hollywood. “For the past 25 years, I’ve made films in a certain way. But I’m quite curious,” the director said. “If there’s something I could learn from it, I would really like to work on a Hollywood production to learn the nuances of filmmaking there. Let’s see how it goes.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
