RRR Reloaded: When Rajamouli interfaced with the Russo Brothers

Innovative thinking seems a byword on the OTT platform. Netflix has outdone itself with its professional gambit for The Gray Man when it got its co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo together with S S Rajamouli who spoke to the duo from Hyderabad by video conferencing.

I wish he had taken the trouble to be present physically for the interview with the Russo brothers. Host Rajeev Masand (good to see him back in action) struggled to synchronize the opinions of his two star directors in the studio with Rajamouli who was clearly awed by the august present in July.

Rajamouli requested Rajeev to not equate him with the Russo Brothers: “They have a mountain of success. I have a mound of success.”

It was most clearly a conversation of cumulative curiosity among the R-named highflyers-- Rajamouli, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Rajeev Masand-- discussing RRR, ideating and resonating with one another, and also exchanging views on why the digital platform can at times be preferable to big screen.

Rajamouli revealed how he once toyed with the idea of doing Ponniyin Selvan as 8-15 hour web series because he couldn’t see the story as a feature film.

Now, here is the problem: Mani Ratnam has made a film based on the legend of Ponniyin Selvan. So what Rajamouli unintentionally said was, that Mani Ratnam had made a mistake. Having said this, it must be noted that Rajamouli couldn’t go beyond platitudes such as , “A good story is a good story.”

No, it is not, I am afraid! Good stories can be mauled on the editing table or on the directorial level. Yash raj Films’ Shamshera is the most recent example of a good story gone astray.

Apparently, the Russo Brothers have seen Rajamouli’s RRR; one of them described it as “profoundly emotional story of brotherhood”(oops, there goes the gay interpretation of male bonding).

Rajeev asked the evening’s RRR panel whether they would like to extend their passion for action to a female-centric vehicle. What I would have liked Rajeev to ask the Russo brothers is, how do they divide the directorial responsibility on the set? How can two people direct the same film?

Oh by the way, Rajamouli said he would have like to direct Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Has he forgotten, his father writer K Vijayendra Singh first offered Bajrangi Bhaijaan to Rajamouli?

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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