SS Rajamouli says Mayabazar and Braveheart served as inspiration for RRR

SS Rajamouli is enjoying the moment as RRR continues to dominate the award season. The film won a Golden Globe Award for ‘Naatu Naatu’ and the song has been nominated for Oscars 2023. The filmmaker recently revealed that the iconic Telugu film Mayabazar served as an inspiration to make RRR. He further added that Mel Gibson’s Braveheart also inspired him for Bheem’s song.

“For instance, the language that is spoken in Mayabazar is supposed to be from the Mahabharata. The many dramas and films that came before, and many films that came after, use a very bookish language for the characters, because they’re supposed to be either gods or ancient people. In English, it would probably resemble a Shakespearean kind of language. But in Mayabazar, the language that the characters speak is a very present-day, modern Telugu language. I was quite surprised the director had the guts to do that,” Rajamouli told The New Yorker in an interview.

He further added, “There are also several instances in the film where they use words that are not Telugu. They just invented words for comedic effect. That’s quite daring when your film’s story is taken from a classic text like the Mahabharata. Mayabazar features almost all of the stars in the Telugu film industry from that period, and they experimented so much. That was a big inspiration for me when I made RRR, a completely fictionalised story featuring characters based on real people. My confidence to make RRR comes from Mayabazar.”

During the conversation, when asked if he liked The Passion Of Christ by Mel Gibson, he explained, “I didn’t like Passion of the Christ. It was too violent for me, at least at that point in time. I couldn’t watch the film in one sitting. I watched a little, shut it off, waited two or three days, watched a little more. There are some moments that are great, definitely. But, on the whole, not a fan. The climax of Braveheart, not Passion of the Christ, was the inspiration for Bheem’s song in RRR, in the scene where he’s being whipped.”

RRR is a fictional tale of two Indian revolutionaries, Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju. The film explores the friendship between Ram and Bheem and their journey away from home during the 1920’s.