Los Angeles (PTI): "RRR" star Ram Charan says they will "host a big party" if SS Rajamouli ever gets an opportunity to direct a Marvel Studios film.
Charan is currently in the US to promote the period epic action "RRR'' ahead of the 95th Academy Awards where the film is nominated in the Original Song category for its Telugu track "Naatu Naatu".
The actor, who features in the global blockbuster alongside Jr NTR, took to Instagram on Friday to share snippets of his interview with website Entertainment Tonight.
When the interviewer quizzed him about the vision that can be "brought together" if Rajamouli directs a Marvel film, Charan said, "Wow. We are going to host you a big party if that happens. She is one of the first people to say this and fingers crossed, I really hope that happens. It is for my director."
Asked if he would like to feature in the Marvel or Star Wars franchise, the actor said he wanted to be in "every film, in every country where people appreciate cinema".
"I want to be in every franchise where people are watching it and buying the tickets. I want to be in every film, in every country where people appreciate art in the films and cinema basically. Cinema is becoming the global cinema. It's no more Holywood, Bollywood. It's burning all the woods and becoming a global cinema. And I am so fortunate to be a part of that."
"RRR" follows a pre-Independence fictional story woven around two real-life Indian revolutionaries - Alluri Sitarama Raju (Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Jr NTR) - in the 1920s.
The film also features Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, and Shriya Saran in key roles. It is the first Indian film in over two decades to be nominated for the Academy Awards.
"Naatu Naatu" has already scooped up a Golden Globe win -- the first Indian song to do so.
Charan is in the US along with Rajamouli, composer MM Keeravani and co-star Jr NTR.
In another interview, the actor opened up about his father, cinema icon Chiranjeevi's reaction to the Oscar nomination for the film.
"It is emotional for all of us. It is emotional for my dad who is waiting there. Before taking my flight, he was so sentimental that I was coming here. In 154 films he has done and 42 years he has been working, he has been to the Oscars in the 80s and that too for an appearance, and that also he felt was a huge achievement.
"But today we have been nominated and in the list and now waiting," he said during an appearance on podcast Talk Easy.
At the upcoming Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles on March 12, "Naatu Naatu" singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava are set to perform the song.
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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).