Not one historical fact, only imagination, in RRR, says SS Rajamouli

SS Rajamouli’s Roudram Ranam Rudhiram (2022) is based on two Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, played, respectively, by Ram Charan and NT Rama Rao Junior.

Historical movies have often faced flak in India in recent years from one group or the other for alleged inaccuracies in depiction of personalities or events. But Rajamouli believes RRR will not face any such problem because the events in the film are fictionalized.

“Normally, these things happen when we make a biopic of any hero,” the director said at the launch of RRR’s partnership with PVR Cinemas in Mumbai. “That’s the time people come up with these kind of allegations. But from the beginning we have been very clear that this is completely fictionalized. Whatever you see in the film is not part of their actual lives.”

He added, “Both Ramaraju and Bheem belonged to the same era. They went out of their homes during the same time. No one knows what happened after that. After three or four years they came back and started fighting for their [respective people] in the same modus operandi.”

This is where Rajamouli felt he could explore their lives in a fictional way. “That gave me big excitement, like what if these two superheroes or demigods actually met? What if they exchanged ideas? What if they were close friends? What if they fought against each other? All these ideas were very exciting to me. So, it’s a completely fictional tale. There is not even one bit of historical fact in the film,” he said.

RRR is Rajamouli's next project as director after the blockbuster Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017) and this film, too, has been mounted on a lavish scale. So it is obvious that people will have similar expectations from it at the box office.

Responding to this, the director joked, “When we make films, we make films. It is the audience that gives us the money. In this aspect you are the audience. So if you are not going to give me enough money like Baahubali, I am not going to accept that, okay?”

RRR is scheduled to be released in cinema halls on 7 January 2022.