Ram Charan: Jr NTR as a co-star inspired me to perform better while shooting for RRR

RRR star Ram Charan is someone who keeps his emotions in check most of the time, keeping to himself, speaking only when necessary and not getting carried away by any praise or demoralised by criticism. It's hard to believe he's the same man who erupts like a volcano in front of the camera whenever an intense character comes his way. So surprised was director SS Rajamouli himself that he called Ram Charan's approach to acting 'meditative' and how his composure was a key reason behind him being cast as Alluri Seetharamaraju in RRR.

Playing an iconic character like Alluri Seetharamaraju, who's a revered, God-like figure in several parts of the Telugu states, comes with a lot of responsibility. And he doesn't have it easy, especially when he knows he'll be compared to veteran star Krishna's pathbreaking portrayal of Alluri in the freedom fighter's biopic. Such worries never figured in his mind and that's the reason he could give his spin to the character within the framework of the story. He talks about RRR and more in this freewheeling chat with OTTplay.com

On the war situation in Ukraine, shooting for the film in the country

The Ukraine we knew of, before and after the war, are two different countries altogether. We shot a huge schedule there and we were a large unit. Believe me when I say that we had never experienced the kind of comfort like what we got in Ukraine in any other country, be it the people, their understanding of the technical aspect of filmmaking. 

They were such lovely people and behind all this, we never foresaw that tension that was brewing between the two countries. I have been interacting with my Ukrainian staff (those who helped me during the shoot) - even my security person's 85-year-old father is holding a gun whenever he comes to the streets. I've tried to help them financially as much as I can. This is not enough and they all deserve better.

If the pressure around RRR's delay got to him

There was no real pressure on us because of the delay. It's something we face every day. Beyond COVID-19, we were always sure that audiences would accept us whenever we released the film in theatres. There may have been a lull period for two years though it's something that everyone in the world had faced. I never took that worry too personally.

On experiences that helped him understand his character, Alluri Seetharamaraju, better

There were no workshops for RRR. We only had to work on gaining a basic understanding of characters for a couple of days. If at all there was a workshop, it was something Rajamouli would've organised for himself (laughs). He gave his viewpoint and our duty was to obey him like a master, word to word and expression to expression, exactly like he wanted. It was the simplest job for us.

Why he didn't feel the burden of giving his spin to a popular figure like Alluri Seetharamaraju?

The film may be inspired by real-life characters but the story isn't about them. Despite the familiarity with Alluri Seetharamaraju among audiences, the story isn't about where he was born and what he did in his 20s. Even the reference points that I had about the character were unnecessary because the story was fictional. Regardless of me having a lot of information about Alluri and NTR not knowing much about Komaram Bheem, all that mattered was the characters in this story. This may have been an issue if this was a biopic.

Inspired by Jr NTR on sets

There are a lot of instances during RRR where I adored and respected NTR as an actor and was inspired too. It gave me an urge to perform better. When you watch the film, you'll know about these many scenes where he just stole the show and I was striving to do equally well for my portions too. I enjoyed working with Taarak.