SS Rajamouli bags best director award at New York Film Critics Circle for 'RRR'
New Delhi (PTI): Filmmaker SS Rajamouli has bagged the best director award at the New York Film Critics Circle as his film "RRR" continues to make waves in the Western markets.
The winners were announced by the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) on Friday night on its social media platforms.
The official Twitter handle of "RRR" also shared the news of Rajamouli's win at the movie gala.
"@SSRajamouli wins the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle Award for the Best Director! @NYFCC Words can't do justice to describe how happy and proud we are... Our heartfelt thanks to the jury for recognising #RRRMovie" read the tweet.
A pre-Independence fictional story, "RRR" stars Ram Charan and Jr NTR as real-life Indian revolutionaries in the 1920s Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, respectively.
Jr NTR congratulated Rajamouli on Twitter and said the filmmaker's win at the NYFCC marks the beginning of his "journey to worldwide glory".
"It's time for the world to know what I knew about you all along," he added.
Released theatrically in March, "RRR" raised over Rs 1,200 crore at the global box office. The Hindi version of the film premiered on Netflix on May 20 and soon became the most popular movie from India on the streamer globally.
As the film reached overseas territories, it received praise from the who's who of Hollywood such as Edgar Wright, "Doctor Strange" director Scott Derrickson and writer C Robert Cargill, Joe Dante of "Gremlins" fame, "Guardians of the Galaxy" films director James Gunn, "Dune" screenwriter Jon Spaihts, filmmaker Christopher Miller and "The Gray Man" directors Anthony and Joe Russo.
In the US, "RRR" is being distributed by Variance Films, which has mounted a substantial campaign to have the film recognised in the general categories including best picture, according to entertainment news outlet Variety.
The New York Film Critics Circle also unveiled winners for other categories with Todd Field's "Tar" taking home the Best Picture trophy and lead star Cate Blanchett winning the Best Actress award.
The Best Actor award went to Colin Farrell for his performances in Kogonada's "After Yang" and Martin McDonagh's "The Banshees of Inisherin".
Ke Huy Quan won the Best Supporting Actor for "Everything Everywhere All At Once" and "Nope" star Keke Palmer bagged the Best Supporting Actress award.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
