The Tollywood cinematic spectacle RRR has become a global phenomenon and an awards-season hopeful—and now it’s getting a sequel.
The film was originally intended as a standalone, as director S.S. Rajamouli told Variety. “When we were making it, we didn’t have an idea about [a sequel],” he said. “With the initial success of it, we discussed a little bit and threw out some good ideas, but we didn’t feel there was a great idea that was worth pursuing, so we left it at that.” The possibility of a sequel was teased by Rajamouli to a Beyond Fest audience a few months ago (io9 was there!); he said that ideas were beginning to percolate between himself and his father, who wrote the story for the first film, along with screenwriter Vijayendra Prasad.
The Rajamoulis took some creative liberties in bringing the film’s revolutionary heroes together for the action-packed and mythological crossover film—and the approach they chose clearly worked, since audiences have been wanting more of NTR Jr. and Ram Charan Teja as Bheem and Ram on screen. The director disclosed that Prasad and his father are “seriously working on the story” which will center on the heroes returning, perhaps with the help of other revolutionary heroes (something we glimpse in the RRR end credits) to fight colonialism. They hit on the idea when another member of the family landed on the concept, Rajamouli explained. “After the international success, when the topic came up again, my cousin [M. M. Keeravani]—who is also a part of my core team—gave an idea which we felt like, ‘Oh my God, this is a great idea. This is the idea that is worth pursuing.’”
With the film’s smash success on Netflix (though the streamer still doesn’t offer the original Telegu version) inspiring theatrical screenings, including Beyond Fest’s sold-out IMAX presentation at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, we hope the sequel will open up more opportunities to see the film in more glorious presentations. “Once this script is done is when we really look into how to make it, when to make it, and how to bring it onto the screen,” Rajamouli said.
We can all agree we want it on all visual formats. I mean, come on, James Cameron is resurrecting the 3D experience with Avatar: The Way of Water, and Rajamouli, who’s been compared to the legendary director, did release a 3D cut of RRR overseas—so the time is now. Watch RRR in theaters or check it out on Netflix.
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