‘RRR’ actor NTR Jr. praises S. S. Rajamouli as ‘the greatest director’ in India [Complete Interview Transcript]

Latasha Ford and Marcus James Dixon
·20 min read
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“RRR” actor NTR Jr. (aka N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) recently chatted with Gold Derby’s Denton Davidson on the journey of India cinema, America being an ideal “vacation spot,” and the joyousness of the worldwide phenomenon. He has nothing but praises for “RRR’s” filmmaker S. S. Rajamouli, whom he calls “the greatest director” in India. “I definitely would not even think for a second before I say that,” he adds.

“RRR” is nominated at the Oscars for Best Song for “Naatu Naatu” (music by M. M. Keeravani; lyrics by Chandrabose). “‘Naatu Naatu’ is just not a song, it is a movie, a story by itself,” NTR explains. “He’s making a movie about two friends. Once you guys are really true friends, you really don’t need to see each other, look at each other, copy each other, you know what the other is going to do. It’s like two heads, but one body. That is what you wanted to show in that song.”

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Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.

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Denton Davidson: Welcome to Gold Derby. I’m senior editor, Denton Davidson, and I’m joined by NTR Jr, the star of the worldwide phenomenon, RRR, from director S. S. Rajamouli. NTR, this film is such a blockbuster. It’s one of the highest grossing films to ever come out of India. People can’t stop talking about it, and it’s just like a stunning visual and to listen to. What has this been like, to get this worldwide attention and acclaim for you?

NTR Jr.: Wow. Well, it was rather a very, very, very big journey. We started off, what? 2018, November. I still remember, when we got into the sets of 2018 November. Yes, it is Rajamouli, the greatest director of our country. I definitely would not even think for a second before I say that. He’s been somebody I knew for a very long time. His first movie, my second movie, happened in 2001. Started as nobodies in the industry. Of course, having come from family which has been in the acting business for a very long time, I was still a nobody. I was still a novice. And Rajamouli, coming from a family which has been into the film industry, his father is great writer, his whole family is great when it comes to storytelling. But having said that, nobodies.

And here we are today, in America, a place called Los Angeles. Has always been a vacation spot for me, as such. America in general has been a spot for vacation, or we have a family back here and we used to come and just visit them and leave. But today, thanks to this phenomenon called RRR, America and the mecca of film industry. Filmmaking, Los Angeles, has become a second home and workplace. So 2018, when we started, I knew what we are getting into, because Rajamouli’s Baahubali has really, really, really erased those imaginary lines of Indian film industry. We have many film industries in my country, in India. It’s very diverse. We have Hindi film industry, we have… I hate calling it the words.

DD: Yeah.

NTR: So we have the Hindi film industry, we have the [foreign language 00:02:30], Bengali. Oh my God. We have a lot of… And it’s a very big film industry. And Rajamouli is the only director who has erased those words, those imaginary lines, as such, and he’s just brought it as together as one big Indian film industry. And well, before we came here to see what the reactions of the West was, we were there, the Deep East, Japan. This movie collects $500 million, 500 million yen in Japan. It’s no joke.

DD: Right.

NTR: It is no joke. I was there in Japan witnessing people crying. Sorry, I’m really sorry about that. Crying. And I think they have expressed their love for RRR as audiences more than what India could. Afterwards, there was this video when Rajamouli, we thought that maybe the West talking about it on social media, we thought, “Okay, we have our Indian crowds back there. Maybe someone’s friend would’ve gone to the movie. Maybe it was just one or two people.” But no, it was not one or two. It did not stop.

It started increasing, multiplying and multiplying. And then, we were like, “You know what? I think it’s for real.” And then, when Rajamouli was at the TCL, Denton, I must tell you, I was like, “Gosh, I wish I was there with him.” Standing ovation, people screaming, people dancing in front of the theater. It just happens back home. And then, finally, I was there a couple of days ago, and oh my God. The response the West has given us is, I’m telling you, back home, I think we know how a movie release is an event, but oh my God. I should say that this is something beyond an event here.

DD: And not for nothing. People flocked to that theater in the downpouring rain, and people don’t go out in the rain here.

NTR: I used to tell this Denton, I said this on the card. There is an instant ramen noodle, as such, called, “Maggi.” We make it in two minutes, it takes two minutes for us to make. It took 98 seconds for 935 or 960 seats to be filled for RRR.

DD: Unbelievable.

NTR: It’s seriously overwhelming, unbelievable. And today, my heart is filled with so much joy. I feel so proud of myself. I feel God. Thank God I was in a project called RRR. It feels so great, it’s overwhelming.

DD: And was it fun to go to the Golden Globes then? Did you meet anyone, any memorable people that you ran into?

NTR: Everything about the Golden Globe was so, so, so amazing. I could see my favorite filmmaker also. I would say he’s been a favorite for a lot of them, I got to see Quentin Tarantino.

DD: Oh yeah.

NTR: And I got to see Salma Hayek. It’s just so wonderful. The whole process of the Globe, it is our first time, and it is first time Indian movie has been into two nominations in the Golden Globe, and it felt so good. It felt so good. People, actors you’ve known, actors you’ve seen on camera, on films, on film screens, are for real here. So it was a truly great experience. It was just amazing, it was so good. It was like this festival where people are meeting each other and there’s an exchange of talents. Small formulas of delivering good acting. I got to see Brad Pit. Oh my God, he was looking fabulous as well.

DD: Well, you’re part of this now. And I want to get into the film because it’s a tremendous amount of action, and as I was watching it, I just kept thinking, “How do you physically prepare for the abuse that you’re taking for three hours on film?” That’s nothing compared to the time you spent actually filming it. So what did you do to mentally and physically prepare to do this film?

NTR: I’ve been in the industry for 20 years now. I’ve worked with Rajamouli for four films, this my fourth collaboration with him. I know how Rajamouli is very, very demanding as a director. Rajamouli heroes, as such, are just not normal human beings, they are superpowers. They are like the Marvel Avengers cast, you have to be the Avengers. You have to be physically fit, mentally fit, you know what you’re getting into. But for RRR, I think, of all his previous movies, Rajamouli has concentrated more on action for RRR, if you really compared his previous movies. RRR had gruesome action episodes. We were there, beating each other up. There were times, especially when we were shooting for that night sequence, the whole big sequence, it was shot for 65 nights, Denton. Straight up 65 nights. So there were times when he really wanted us to beat each other up. He wanted to see that contact. He wanted that contact.

And when we started off, we were hitting each other, and we were apologizing. “I’m really sorry. I think I hit you hard. I’m really sorry.” But later, 10 nights into it, we stopped apologizing. “You know what? You’re hurt, fine. Just deal with it. Let’s just get done with this episode. I can’t take it anymore.” We stopped apologizing. We were put through… Both of us needed to look our physically best, the best, so I was training for… The body which Rajamouli needed took about 16 months for me to achieve. I was eating about 3,500 calories a day, day in and day out, doing the same thing over and over and over again for 16 months. The challenge was when the pandemic hit us.

DD: Oh, okay.

NTR: “RRR” was supposed to be the fastest film of Rajamouli, but it ended up being the same thing like Baahubali. He took his time because we were hit by the pandemic also. The toughest thing was holding that body which we built throughout the pandemic. India had three waves, we were in a lockdown for three times in two years, so that was hard. That was hard. But I think Rajamouli really helped us not deviating away from the program, from the plan. The whole world was put brought to a standstill then, and so were we. The film industry also took a very big beating globally.

So he was the director. It was great that he was there for us during the pandemic. He was talking to us, talking about how the VFX work is progressing. He used to make us listen to small background scores saying that, “You know what? This is how it’s going to be, and this is how the background score is going to be on this episode.” He used to give us small tasks, tasks to deal with, and we just went. And it was physically one of the most challenging films I’ve been a part of.

DD: What is it like working with VFX like that when you’re acting, but things aren’t there? I just think of that opening sequence with the cat and you’re running. What is it like to act with nothing and then to see it come to life on the screen?

NTR: You feel what the audiences are going to feel. I think that’s exactly how it is. The audience have no idea what the movie is going to be like, you have no idea. There was a small spoiler saying that, “Okay, there is a tiger sequence in the firm where NTR Jr. is fighting with a tiger.” There was spoilers which came out, but that was the same excitement for me like the audiences would have. I was also waiting for it to, “You know what? Let me see how it’s going to be.” It was really tough. But again, having said this, Rajamouli is one such director who doesn’t fill his actor’s mind with a lot of things he does not need to know about, especially VFX.

DD: Okay.

NTR: It is something which is happening behind you, very rarely something which is happening in front of you also. But basically, everything which is happening behind you, the VFX, he doesn’t tell you the details about it. He’s like, “You know what? Don’t get your actor mind confused with, or fill it up with, everything you don’t need to know.” With the cat, he was… He does his research, he does his homework as a filmmaker.

We had show me. There was this, I would say a sponge or a pillow which was shaped into a tiger head, and it was that big in front of me. I was like, “Jesus, really? Do you think a tiger’s really… Is this for real? The tiger’s head is that big and the jaw is that much. Oh my God, my head can fit into it.” So it was very challenging because you are actually seeing something which you don’t know, or which you actually can’t see, and the final result is going to be on the screen. It was tough, but again, Rajamouli makes it easy for his actors. He does.

DD: Well, and we need to talk about the synchronized dance because that’s just another incredible moment that people fell in love with. And in America, not a lot of our action heroes break out into song and dance. And there’s something about this that it brings so much joy to watch, and it’s done with such precision. Are you a trained dancer, and how did you prepare for that? How long did it take to film that?

NTR: Well, coming to first thing, yes, I was a professional Indian Kuchipudi dancer. Kuchipudi is an Indian form of dancing, and it belongs to the state. So I was professionally trained for about 13… When I was six, I started when I was six years old, I trained up until I was about 13 years old. Yes, I am a trained dancer. I have done songs in my career, which have more complicated steps than what “Naatu Naatu” has. “Naatu Naatu” is not about this complication of the step itself, it is the synchronization, which you just mentioned. And I think the world went berserk seeing that synchronization. “Naatu Naatu” is just not a song, it is a movie, a story by itself. He’s making a movie about two friends. Once you guys are really true friends, you really don’t need to see each other, look at each other, copy each other, you know what the other is going to do. It’s like two heads, but one body. That is what you wanted to show in that song.

We rehearsed for seven days. We shot that song for 12 days, starting 8:00 AM in the morning ’til 8:00 PM in the night. We used to come back to our hotels, this man would not let us rest. He would ask us to come down to the ballroom again in that hotel, rehearse for another two hours, and then send us back to the room. We would just go to the room and just fall on our beds, fall flat. There were days, I was like, “You know what? I can’t take a shower. I just want to just tuck in, into my bed and rest.” Wake up at 6:00 AM again, go to the shoot, start your music again. And it was a very, very, very challenging song. And I think that’s the reason why.

People have not seen a song like that before. It is that very synchronization. If you really look at it right now, you would not see that there’s a difference between a small inch of a difference also. Both our hands, both our legs, our bodies were in sync. Of course, the expressions was different on each face, but we were like together. And I think that is exactly what Rajamouli wanted to show through that song. And no wonder that song has really taken the world as a surprise, and truly honored that we won the Globe for it also.

DD: Yeah, incredible. What was your relationship with Ram Charan going into this, and then did it change through this filming process?

NTR: Well, I would say that I’ve been friends with Charan for a very, very long time. A very long time. We’re close pals, close buddies. And predominantly, that’s the reason why Rajamouli wanted two friends to be in RRR, and that’s why he chose both of us. While shooting for RRR, Denton, I think I came to learn, I learned more about Charan, about him as an actor, not him as a person. I watched his movies, but I was never behind the screens or with him, seeing what his process of acting is, or what is his process. So for me, it was like a learning lesson. He’s my co-star now. I used to see him, how he used to prepare for his scenes, and how he used to prepare for the action sequences as well.

This, again, was a learning lesson to me. There were times when I would think that, “You know what? Oh wow, I think his process is good. What if I also take this process into my career as well? Maybe this would help me as an actor too.” It was like an exchange program. And after RRR, I think RRR has tightened our relationship a little more, of course. The success of RRR, the extra of RRR, the global phenomenon of RRR, has really brought us together a little more, I should say.

DD: Another scene people talk about is that flogging scene, that’s emotional. Was that the most difficult scene for you to shoot?

NTR: I would say definitely. For me, as an actor I would say, as an actor, that was the toughest scene in my career. The whole process of getting flogged, the song. The song, the actor, Bheem has to show anger, helplessness, pain, sorrow, bitterness, and all this has to be told with a smile on his face. He cannot stop smiling. If you look at that song, he just doesn’t stop smiling. He has that smile in his face, he has that pride in his face, and he is like, “Bring it on. You know what? You can’t bring me down. Do whatever you may, but you cannot bring me down on my goddamn knees. Impossible.” That was truly the toughest for me as an actor so far, and that is one of the performances I will carry for a very long time in my career.

DD: What do you admire the most about Bheem that you would like to incorporate in yourself in your own life?

NTR: Naiveness, Denton, I think. We have stopped being naive, Denton. In this world of calculations, I should say, that we have stopped being naive. I have two monkeys, an eight and a four. When I look at them, I see this naiveness in them. They’re not rubbed with all this exposure of the world. They’re so happy inside, they’re so content inside. They’re not overcalculating stuff, their focus is so good. They are happy in general, and I think Bheem is that. Comes from the tribal area, does not know anything about the world, does not have an idea about the British.

Forget about the world, he has no idea about his next neighboring state. He does not know what Delhi is. He’s the captain of the country, he does not know that. He does not know that people you trust would back stab you. It is so good. Sometimes, it’s good to be back stabbed, come on, you know? Not everything is a calculation to you. Everything can be calculated. You start becoming a human and you start behaving like a robot. And I think that’s something I want to keep within myself for a very long time, from Bheem.

I think this is what… See, I have been doing this in my career. I don’t know. I just wanted to become so naive in my career. I did not want to do films or do roles which I am very well aware of. There is no learning process if that’s the case. I want to feel fresh. I want to feel like a kid in a candy shop when I go on my sets. You’re so confused, which candy you want to eat, you want all of it. So I want that excitement as an actor. So that naiveness of Bheem is what I’m going to keep with me.

DD: And you come from a family of creatives and artists. What was that like growing up for you, for someone who started as a child actor? I imagine that had to feel good to grow up in a family that I’m assuming was supportive of what your dreams were.

NTR: Absolutely, Denton. It was like, you were put into a school since the time you were born. There was no waiting, there was no admission, as such. Which, it is my grandfather has been a true legend, I think. He is one of the faces of Indian cinema. He is the face of [foreign language 00:21:27] cinema. He is the face of [foreign language 00:21:28] pride. So erasing his name off the people is something which can never happen. For me, I take my inspiration from him. I draw it unconsciously. He’s there behind my head, I just draw my inspiration from him, I draw this juice from him. My uncle is an actor as well. So these people have always been a great influence in my life, from my childhood. Somewhere, I think, they have helped me, right from the childhood, they’ve prepared me for this.

DD: Wow.

NTR: If you ask me a question, Denton, did you want to be an actor all your life? I would say yes. I would say definitely yes. I’ve wanted to be an actor, because I had that exposure from my childhood. So it’s truly a blessing when you have people who’ve been in the business, who’ve seen failure, success. The teaching process becomes so much easier.

DD: Well, NTR, congratulations on the film and the much deserved success and attention it’s been receiving, and best of luck to you with everything moving forward. And it’s been a pleasure to speak with you about RRR.

NTR: Thank you so much, Denton. The pleasure was all mine. Thank you so much. I hope to see you soon in person.

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