SS Rajamouli’s RRR had a closing dance number which featured key figures from the Indian freedom struggle like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh. In a recent chat with The New Yorker, the director was asked why revolutionaries like Mahatma Gandhi and BR Ambedkar were not included here as it was interpreted as a “deliberate avoidance of nonviolent revolutionaries.” The director said that he chose the historic figures whose “stories touched me, made me cry, or made my heart swell with pride.”
He insisted that “could also only highlight eight people in that musical number.” “I would need room for eighty in order to put all the figures that I respect in the movie. Still, I respect all of the revolutionaries that I chose, and, if I didn’t put Gandhiji’s portrait there, it doesn’t mean I disrespect him. I have huge respect for Gandhiji, no doubt about that,” he said.
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Rajamouli asked if naysayers would still be raising the question of disrespect if he had replaced Netaji’s portrait with Gandhi. He questioned, “My question is: If I were to replace Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s portrait with Gandhiji’s, would all these people ever question me, saying that I disrespected Subhas Chandra Bose by not portraying him there?”
Rajamouli’s film has scored one nomination at the upcoming Academy Awards. The film’s song ‘Naatu Naatu’ has been nominated in the Best Original Song category at the Oscars 2023. The song has already won at the Golden Globes.