S. S. Rajamouli's RRR made wonders and created new records along with winning the 'Best Original Song' accolade at the 95th Academy Awards. Post the big win, the epic action drama film has been in the headlines over the past few days, with rumors on social media claiming that the team spent a huge sum of money on the Oscar campaign. During an exclusive interview with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, S. S. Rajamouli's son S. S. Karthikeya, who was the line producer on RRR, addressed the rumors, while explaining the process of their entire campaign.
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Speaking about the rumors that the RRR team had paid for the tickets for those attending the 95th Academy Awards, S. S. Karthikeya said, "Jr NTR, Ram Charan, Prem Rakshit master, Rahul Sipliganj and Kala Bhairava were invitees. They were officially invited (by the Oscar committee)." Stating that composer M. M. Keeravani and lyricist Chandrabose already got their invited as they were nominees for the 'Best Original Song' award, he said, "it's the same for everyone and whoever is performing or they feel will be nice to have, the Academy decides and invite them via an official invitation."
S.S. Karthikeya further explained, "Other than those who are in the nomination or are invited by the committee, one needs to purchase the tickets for the Oscars. The nominees have to send out an official e-mail saying, 'I want to bring along my family, my director or anybody, and there are different classes for the tickets. What we bought for our families, we did buy, but not the prices that we're seeing outside. What we paid was about $50 or $100 on the lower level and we got another four tickets for our family as well, which is completely on top and that was about $750 dollars."
Opening up furthermore about the ticketing process, S. S. Karthikeya said, "MM Keeravaani and Chandrabose, both of them are nominees and saying they need these many tickets and we also give them the (information) who are we asking for. So, we said, SS Rajamouli and his wife, Karthikeya the line producer and his wife, and so on. This is the process and they see who all are there and they give out the tickets, share a link and we go to that link, make the payment and it's done. It's all official."
Regarding the perception of spending a lot of money for RRR's Oscar campaign, he added, "I don't know why there is such a rumor. But, the film became so huge and a phenomenon. The fans started liking it and made it so big. And, when you say campaign, it's like marketing a film. Like, how you market your film before its release. You have a publicity budget where you strategise your plan and see where and how to spend. Buying an Oscar is a joke. It's a 95-year-old institution and they have process for that. You can't buy the audiences' love. You can't buy what Steven Spielberg and James Cameron said about the movie. When they spoke about the movie, it became a phenomenon. It's how you see it."
Watch S. S. Karthikeya in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan below:
