New York critics honour Rajamouli for RRR

Hyderabad: Filmmaker and director S S Rajamouli, who had shot to fame with his mega film Baahubali was bestowed with the best director award for RRR at the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) 2022.

Rajamouli was cheered and was given a standing ovation by the audience as he walked up to receive his award.

In his acceptance speech, Rajamouli referred to a particular sequence from Terminator. He said he was always fascinated by the power of cinema. He said when the film was stopped at the intermission point, he had seen the reaction of the people. He said it had influenced his filmmaking style.

"It is pure joy of awe. You can look at their faces and say what they were thinking. It is just like 'what in the hell did we just witness'. That is exactly what I want to give to my audiences. That look of pure joy when they watch my films," he said.

The RRR director asserted that this award was not just for the film, but meant much more. "You didn't just honour my cast and crew, you made a lot of people take notice of a small film field in the South of India," he said.

He said that while in India the audience scream and shout in theatres when they enjoy a movie, he saw it for the first time in the West too with his film. He said when he saw this kind of reaction in New York and LA or Chicago, he thought most of them were Indians but later he realised that 90 per cent of them were non-Indians and reacted the same way as Indians did.