The Baahubali and RRR director on the factors he considers when writing a story, casting big names, his brand of cinema, and more…
Edited excerpts:
Factors considered when writing a story.
I’ll answer that in two parts. How many films in a year come out with run-of-the-mill stories? 99 percent? The success rate, though, is only 5 percent. So when you take a run-of-the-mill story or a unique, diverse story, the chance of success and failure is the same. That’s not going to change and it’s evident before our own eyes. It has been happening in the past 75 years. Taking a unique, different story doesn’t make it any more risky than taking a run-of-the-mill story. What the audience connects with is the emotion, not a distinct or standard story. The thing is, when you take an irregular story, you have to work extra hard because the tolerance level of the audience is less for a different story and more for a run-of-the-mill story. They’ll accept many mistakes in the latter because they have been used to seeing them. If you give them a different story and don’t reward their attention, they get offended. You have to be extra careful there. The chance of success is the same. Secondly, whether I think of the audience or not: I don’t think about them when I’m actually making the story. When I’m writing it, I’m only considering my excitement. It’s only when I’m done with it and reliving it while narrating to my family members or technicians I think about the audience.
Casting big names for the commercial vs art aspects.
The commercial aspects will be there. You can’t completely separate art and commerce. But you have to be very careful not to let commerce take over the art. It is always the art that leads, and hand-in-hand with commerce. So, of course, the appeal of Ajay sir or Alia (for RRR) for North Indian audiences is there, but they’re also there because they satisfied my creative artistic need. The commercial aspect is an additional bonus.
The cinema of Rajamouli.
There are certain kinds of films that I make or want to make. There are certain kinds of films I want to try. There are certain kinds of films I don’t want to make at all. And there will be many kinds that fall between these categories. I would really love to make a simple, lighthearted romantic comedy. The closest to a small film I’ve made is Maryada Ramanna but because of my penchant for bigness, you can see certain sequences in that too. So I’m not averse to making small films or small ideas… I don’t know whether I can make a Pelli Choopulu or not, but I’d love to try. I love C/o Kancharapalem but I know I can’t make it. My sense of creating drama is different. Maybe I can make horror films but I won’t because I hate them.
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