As award season ramps up, RRR—one of the best historical fantasy action films we’ve ever seen—has so far nabbed Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards for its music. Composer M.M. Keeravaani recently chatted with io9 to discuss working with RRR director S.S. Rajamouli on the film’s epic music, the international reaction to the film, and the viral video sensation of “Naatu Naatu”—thanks in no small part to the film’s charismatic leading men NTR Jr and Ram Charan.
Sabina Graves, io9: I’m so excited to speak to you! I’m in Los Angeles and have been lucky enough to see the film multiple times in IMAX and Dolby theaters. And Dolby was definitely one of my favorites, as you really get immersed in the incredible music and sound. Just to get started, what was the process writing the songs? How much did the script inform you, or did you work with S.S. Rajamouli on developing the songs as the script was being written?
M.M. Keeravaani: I take the narration of the story initially, and I come to know how many songs are there, and what are the song situations some sequences. So I started composing for RRR about friendship that happens after meet for the first time and the train accident—that was done first. And then I composed the song that Malli, the small child character, sings . And then the song where Bheem is tortured—that was song number three, then the celebrate the flag song, and then “Naatu Naatu,” and then the background songs. This is the order of the songs I composed, and then once the songs are composed the movie’s ready and I take care of the background score—that’s the process.
io9: That’s so incredible to hear, having gone to the theater here and seeing a lot of the videos online of people doing the dance for “Naatu Naatu.” What was your reaction as the song went viral and now has won awards?
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