RRR officially enters Oscar race after India snub. Does it stand a chance?

One thing the movie has in its favour is the buzz being generated in the US. If it does win an Oscar, it will join a select list of foreign-language films to have done so.

BySouth First Desk

Published Oct 06, 2022 | 6:30 PM ⚊UpdatedOct 06, 2022 | 6:30 PM

rrr rajamouli

Rajamouli's RRR is in the running for the Oscar. (Twitter/ssrajamouli)

Despite being ignored by the Film Federation of India, the Telugu movie RRR has entered the Oscar race.

“We applied to the Academy for Oscar consideration in general category,” said a note tweeted by team RRR along with a picture of the director of the film SS Rajamouli flanked by the lead actors of the film — Jr NTR and Ram Charan.

“We are honoured that RRR’s overwhelming success represented Indian Cinema on the global stage by creating milestones at the worldwide box-office and uniting film buffs across the world by transcending linguistic and cultural barriers,” the note read.

“We wish our RRR family the best and thank them from the bottom of our hearts for making this possible,” it added.


A few hours earlier, SS Karthikeya, the son of RRR director SS Rajamouli, had tweeted about the entry of the film into the Oscar race, “Waiting for destiny to unravel and wishing us the best!”

A day earlier, Los Angeles Times film reporter Jen Yamato had tweeted, “It’s official: #RRRMovie’s FYC awards/Oscars campaign is going for Best Picture, @ssrajamouli for Best Director…”

Chhello Show beat RRR in India race

RRR had lost out to Pan Nalin’s Chhello Show (Last Film Show), which was selected by a 17-member jury of the Film Federation of India as India’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Oscar Awards to be held in 2023.

From South India, cinematographer Sangeeth Sivan, National Award recipient TS Nagabharana, directors Santhana Bharathi and Pawan Wadeyar, and actor Pramila Joshai were part of the FFI jury.

For more on the India Oscar decision, read this article by South First on How Chhello Show became the country’s official entry for 2023.

Buzz around RRR before Oscar awards

One thing the film RRR has in its favour is the buzz in the US with the movie being promoted by Variance Films.

RRR is said to have made ₹17 lakh from a single screening at a 900-seater theatre in Los Angeles recently.

A career retrospective of director SS Rajamouli held in Los Angeles recently also added to the buzz around the film.

As Chhello Show director Pan Nalin noted recently in an interview with Indian Express, “We don’t have a money machine behind us but we are relying on the strength of our movie.” The money machine was evidently a reference to RRR.

Does RRR stand Oscar chance?

Only one foreign-language film — the South Korean movie Parasite in 2019 — has won an Oscar in the Best Picture category till now.

RRR is also trying to compete for an Oscar in the Best Director category.

In 2018, Roma from Mexico won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The film, directed by Alfonso Curaon, also won an Oscar for Best Director, the first foreign language film to do so. Incidentally, Cuaron also won an Oscar for Best Cinematography for the same film.

More foreign films have won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, so perhaps RRR has a statistically better chance of winning an Oscar in that category.

Marie-Louise (1944), The Red Balloon (1956), and Divorce Italian Style (1961) are among the foreign films that have won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

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