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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Bengaluru, Nov 1: ISRO on Friday said its analogue space mission has taken off at Leh in Ladakh, where it will simulate life in an interplanetary habitat as India prepares to send a human to the moon.

The initiative is a collaborative effort of the Human Spaceflight Centre, ISRO, AAKA Space Studio, University of Ladakh, IIT Bombay, and supported by Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.

The month-long mission, kicked off mid-October, comes in the wake of India's plans to set up lunar habitats, which could provide a base to launch inter-planetary missions.

The geographical features of Ladakh are considered to closely resemble Martian and lunar landscapes and are an ideal training ground for scientific missions aimed at exploring planets "India's first analog space mission kicks off in Leh...this mission will simulate life in an interplanetary habitat to tackle the challenges of a base station beyond Earth," ISRO said in a post on X.

The team of AAKA Space Studio is testing environment suits and conducting geological studies in Leh's low-oxygen environment, simulating space-like conditions, studies that could be crucial for future space missions.

The team is also studying how the human body adapts to the harsh weather conditions in Ladakh that could be useful in understanding how astronauts could get used to space like conditions.