Was allowed to watch just one film a month as a child, shares SS Rajamouli

At an event to announce the partnership between his film RRR and PVR Cinemas, SS Rajamouli was asked the reason he always makes larger-than-life movies The filmmaker said that in his childhood, visiting a cinema hall was a big deal. “We were allowed to go for only one film a month," he revealed. "We used to wait so much for it and then [on that day] buy the ticket and sit in the theatre.”

The event also saw the unveiling of a glimpse from RRR aka Roudram Ranam Rudhiram, which stars Ram Charan and Junior NTR, with cameos by Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt.

Rajamouli added, “I come from a very small town where the theatre was in a bad shape. You could smell cigarettes and all kinds of things. But none of it bothered us. I still remember the excitement, sitting in the theatre, and the moment where the lights shut down. That excitement never leaves me. Even now, when the lights shut off to play the teaser, I got the same excitement.”

That excitement has never left Rajamouli even after coming so far in life. “I assume all my audiences who come to the theatre have the same kind of excitement,” he said. “I believe in that and I don’t want that excitement to go down. That drives me. If I want them to feel angry in my film, I want them to feel it to the fullest. I want them to laugh to the fullest. I want them to wonder in the biggest way possible. That is what makes me make my films.”

RRR will be released in theatres on 7 January 2022. It will clash with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, which stars Bhatt and has Devgn making a cameo appearance.