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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ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.

The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.

Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.