A highly successful filmmaker of Indian movies like global blockbusters, ‘Bahubali’ and ‘RRR’, S.S. Rajamouli is currently in Canada. The master storyteller has been featured as a keynote speaker at the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF), Visionaries programme.
S.S. Rajamouli presents a unique, distinct voice within the landscape of contemporary world cinema. With a wide-spanning oeuvre that includes 12 feature films, Rajamouli is known for his inventive style, epic scale, mythological and historical reference points, and films that evade genre-specificity. TIFF welcomes the director of the recent global success, RRR, to discuss Telugu cinema, the notion of art versus commerce, and his reputation of “pushing the limits of industrialized pop cinema” as articulated by Roger Ebert.
During his interaction with audiences at CBC studios, Rajamouli talked about Indian cinema, especially Telugu films. He says he was super happy about the success of his films, which resonates not just with the Indian diaspora but with global, mainstream audiences. He mentioned that the visual effects that he uses enhance the drama. His films are usually ‘over the top’ and not so subtle, which is why he was surprised when his film ‘RRR’ got such a tremendous response from the Western World.
As far as action is concerned, he believes that it always stems from a deep, emotional connect. He has been influenced by Mel Gibson, who is stylish in his action sequences and the base of his action has a strong emotion. Rajamouli also expressed his gratitude for the enthusiastic distributors, who show so much love and excitement for his films.
On the work front. Rajamouli is currently busy with the pre-production works of his next big film with the Superstar Mahesh Babu.
At TIFF this year, the other Indian films that are being screened are Shekhar Kapur’s What’s Love Got To Do With It, Nandita Das’ Zwigato, Shubham Yogi’s Kacchey Limbu, Rima Das’ Tora’s Husband, Vinay Shukla’s While We Watched (Namaskar! Main Ravish Kumar), Nisha Pahuja’s To Kill A Tiger etc.
One of the main attractions of this year’s festival is the relaunching of the Festival Cinematheque ceased to exist in 2019 with various curated lineups. That includes the 4K restoration of Agantuk (The Stranger), believed to be the remarkably personal final film of Satyajit Ray. It’s the story of a middle-class household descended on a potential imposter, hailed by critics worldwide.
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