'RRR' bags two Golden Globe nominations, Rajamouli thanks jury
New Delhi, Dec 12: SS Rajamouli's period action film "RRR" has scooped nominations in two categories at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards -- Best Picture - Non-English and Best Original Song - Motion Picture.
Rajamouli thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which conducts the Golden Globe Awards, for recognising the movie.
The HFPA has nominated "RRR" in the Best Picture - Non-English and Best Original Song - Motion Picture categories. It shared the announcement on the official website of the Golden Globes on Monday evening.
"RRR" follows a pre-Independence fictional story woven around two real-life Indian revolutionaries -- Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem -- in the 1920s.
Starring Ram Charan and Jr NTR in the lead, the film released worldwide in March in five languages -- Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi. It also stars Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn in key roles.
A pan-India blockbuster, "RRR" will face off with Korean romantic mystery "Decision To Leave", German anti-war drama "All Quiet on the Western Front", Argentine historical drama "Argentina, 1985", and French-Dutch coming-of-age drama "Close" in the Best Picture - Non-English segment, formerly called foreign language film category.
Telugu track "Naatu Naatu", composed by veteran music director MM Keeravaani and penned by Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj for the film, has been nominated in the Original Song - Motion Picture category.
Other nominees in the segment are Taylor Swift's "Carolina" ("Where The Crawdads Sing"); "Ciao Papa" ("Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio") which has music by Alexandre Desplat and lyrics by Roeban Katz and del Toro; "Hold My Hand" from "Top Gun: Maverick", a collaboration between Lady Gaga, BloodPop and Benjamin Rice; and "Lift Me Up" from "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Goransson.
Taking to Twitter, Rajamouli expressed his gratitude towards the jury and thanked viewers for their unwavering support.
"Thanks to the jury at @goldenglobes for nominating #RRRMovie in two categories. Congratulations to the entire team...
"Thanks to all the fans and audience for your unconditional love and support through out," the filmmaker wrote.
In a statement shared on the official Twitter page of "RRR", the makers of the film said, "We are very grateful to share that #RRRMovie made it to the nominations of #GoldenGlobes for the Best Picture - Non-English Language & the Best Original Song."
Jr NTR said he is happy that the film has received two nods at the Golden Globe Awards, the precursor to the Oscars.
"Delighted that #RRRMovie has been nominated in two categories at the Golden Globe Awards! Congratulations to all of us... Looking forward," the actor tweeted.
Bhatt shared the news of the twin nominations for "RRR" on her Instagram Stories accompanied by heart emoticons.
"RRR", which emerged as a massive box office success even overseas with reported earnings of Rs 1,200 crore, has been praised for Rajamouli's grand vision, high-octane fight sequences and Keeravaani's rousing musical soundtrack.
The film received rave reviews from the who's who of Hollywood including filmmakers Russo Brothers ("The Gray Man"), Edgar Wright ("Baby Driver"), Scott Derrickson ("Doctor Strange") and "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise director James Gunn.
Rajamouli, who has attained global recognition post the success of the film, was recently declared the runner-up in the Best Director category by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LACFA). Keeravaani received LACFA's Best Music Score award.
Rajamouli previously won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director.
One of the most successful Indian films of the year, "RRR" was a frontrunner in the race for representing India at the Academy Awards next year in the Best International Film category, but "Chhello Show" (Last Film Show), a Gujarati film directed by Pan Nalin, was eventually selected as India's official entry to the 2023 Oscars.
In October, the makers of "RRR" had announced they had sent an application to the Academy of Oscars for consideration in the general category.
The ceremony for Golden Globe Awards will be held in Los Angeles on January 10.
In 2009, music maestro A R Rahman became the first Indian to win the Golden Globe for Best Original Music Score for Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire".
Previously, Indian films such as "Salaam Bombay!" (1988) and "Monsoon Wedding" (2001), both directed by Mira Nair, were nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Thanks to the jury at @goldenglobes for nominating #RRRMovie in two categories. Congratulations to the entire team…
— rajamouli ss (@ssrajamouli) December 12, 2022
Thanks to all the fans and audience for your unconditional love and support through out. 🤗🤗🤗
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Barricades, broken promises, and hidden phones: Inside the managed chaos of Vijay’s TVK Iftaar
Mamallapuram (Tamil Nadu) (PTI): A buzzing Iftaar organised by TVK and busloads of cadres flipped the script for the sleepy coastal town of Poonjeeri near Mahabalipuram on March 18 evening.
It it obvious that Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), still reeling from the near-mythical chaos of its inaugural Iftaar held at the YMCA grounds in Royapettah, bang in the middle of Chennai, hoped that this nondescript town in the middle of nowhere, would absorb the frenzy of the fans-turned-cadres.
The inaugural event had turned into a logistical nightmare for the police.
Party cadres noted that the second iteration was significantly more organised than the Chennai debut, a shift partially attributed to the choice of venue and the ample parking space.
Not willing to take a chance, Aadhav Arjuna, general secretary of TVK’s election campaign management, had also spent a considerable time schooling those seated for Iftaar on how they should behave:"Don’t get up from your seats; pay respect to the occasion; if you have a phone on you -- they were expected to leave the phones outside -- don't take it out to make selfies or reels."
All that worked to an extent. As long as Vijay prayed, the crowd prayed too. But as the actor was about to leave, a frenzy gripped the crowd and people started pushing each other to get close to him.
Things were not that different in the separate enclosure that seated women and children. The women could barely contain themselves and all wanted to take a spot near the opening of the enclosure.
Saira, a fan-turned-cadre from Villupuram, who attended both the events, recalled that during the previous year's gathering, the enthusiasm to see "Thalapathy" was so intense that women tore down the barricades separating them from the men's section.
This year, organisers attempted to "manage" by promising women that Vijay would visit them after the prayers, provided they remained orderly.
While this strategy maintained decorum for much of the evening, just like in the main hall, the arrangement collapsed toward the end of the event; once it became evident the actor would not be entering the enclosure, women rushed out towards the star.
Some realised that there was no way they were going to get through the crowd, men were already at the forefront trying to push their way closer to the star. So, they did the next best thing: whipped out the phone that they kept hidden until now and rushed to the giant screen relaying the event and started to film that, zooming tightly on the actor to make it look like they were shooting live.
The pressure of the swelling crowd was felt early on at the entrance, prompting TVK General Secretary Bussy Anand to announce that the event was restricted to the Muslim community in an eleventh-hour attempt to contain the jostling masses.
This announcement stood in contrast to the party's earlier outreach, as invitations had been widely distributed to the public regardless of religious affiliation.
Despite the tighter management, the evening ultimately demonstrated the persistent challenge the fledgling party faces in balancing its political outreach with the sheer scale of its leader's stardom.
This perhaps was best seen in the case of Yasmin Naina Mohammed, a lawyer from Neyveli, and state joint secretary of the party.
One of the organisers, Yasmin, was strict with the women initially, not even letting them get up from their places.
As people waited for the star to come, she regaled the gathered women with stories about how she has seen the Thalapathy up close "more than 10 times", her tone so flippant that one would think if not for work, she wouldn't take a selfie with the star.
And yet, when Vijay walked into the venue, she drifted towards the very edge of the enclosure that she kept others from, craning her head for a better view of him, as if she couldn't help herself.
A mother of two that was pestering her just a while ago, who was told in no uncertain terms that she should not leave her seat no matter what, inched her way next to her.
The two stood there for better part of the evening, giggling like co-conspirators.
