Film lovers across India is awaiting the 95th Academy Awards, which is scheduled to air this March 13 at 5:30am IST, with bated breath. The song Naatu Naatu from filmmaker SS Rajamouli’s epic actioner RRR (2022) featuring superstars Ram Charan and Jr NTR has bagged a nomination at the Oscars, thus becoming the first Indian song to be nominated at the prestigious award ceremony. It has already won the Best Original Song award at the 2023 Golden Globes along with various other honours across global award galas.
Ahead of the big day, News18 exclusively catches up with actor Shriya Saran, who played Sarojini in the film. Sharing her excitement, she tells us, “I spoke to Rajamouli sir recently. Isn’t it amazing that you’ve the song being performed on the Oscars stage? It’s a huge, huge achievement. I’ve said it many times and I would say it many more times that this movie is where it is because of Rajamouli sir’s belief. He had a dream to make a film and he did and he believed in it.” She adds, “It’s a simple story of two good men and the freedom struggle put together. But the way he has told the story, showed the film and the hard work he has put in has put the film where it is today.”
Saran had earlier collaborated with Rajamouli on the Telugu action drama Chatrapathi (2005). And while the director had become one of the most sought-after names in showbiz after the success of the Baahubali series, she reveals that there wasn’t any difference in the way he treated people during the making of RRR. “When I went to the RRR sets, it had the same people who were there when I was doing Chatrapathi. I met the same people, the same cameramen… His wife got us lunch and everyone sat and ate together,” she says.
Recounting the moments during the shoot, Saran remarks, “Charan would come and crack a joke and then Tarak would come in. It was so much fun! I remember Ajay Devgn (actor) saying, ‘You guys have so much love for each other, it’s unbelievable!’ You just can’t contain the love and that’s what you feel on the sets of a Rajamouli sir film. You don’t just feel love for each other but love for cinema and love for making a film a big film too. The whole set vibrates with that.”
And she believes that it is this love and positivity that has translated to so many awards and accolades for RRR. “I feel that’s the kind of love that will take any film wherever it goes. Hats off to Rajamouli sir for living the film and making a film like RRR and keeping it to true to India! He made an Indian film and took it there [the West]. I’ve so much respect for him,” the 40-year-old expresses.
The Gamanam (2021) and Drishyam 2 (2022) actor became the target of speculations when a news article misquoted her a few years back and stated that she has been dropped from Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017). Recounting the episode, she elaborates, “The funny thing is that when Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) came out, I called him up and I told him that I want to be a part of Baahubali: The Conclusion. Someone asked me in an interview about what I think of Baahubali and I told them, ‘I don’t know why I’m not in it.’ And then they made a big deal out of it. That was a big controversial interview.” She continues, “It stated that I was thrown out of Baahubali and there was a full drama around it (laughs). I called Rajamouli sir and told him, ‘I didn’t say this. I do want to be a part of your film but this is crazy news!’”
So, what was her reaction when she was offered RRR? “When they called me for RRR, I told them that I would do it without even hearing the script. It honestly didn’t even matter what I was doing in the film. At that point of time, we didn’t know RRR would become so big. All I knew that is that I wanted to work with Rajamouli sir again and I’m glad that I did so,” says the actor, who will next be seen in the multilingual period action film, Kabzaa.
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