People Can Decide Whether I’am A BJP Person Or Not – Rajamouli

SS Rajamouli is one of the most popular names across the country and his Oscar nomination and Golden Globe awards for RRR put his name on the world map. The esteemed filmmaker spoke to The New Yorker for an interview on RRR.

Rajamouli is known for his straightforwardness and clarity in what he is filming and also what he is talking about. The star director was asked about the accusations of him supporting the BJP agenda in his films.

Reiterating the ideas behind the stories of Baahubali and RRR, Rajamouli said, ‘First of all, everyone knows the Baahubali movies are fictional, so there is nothing for me to say about whether it is a distortion of history to portray historic characters to suit the present BJP’s agenda. As for RRR, this is not a documentary. This is not a history lesson. It’s a fictional take on characters, which has been done many times in the past. We also just talked about Mayabazar – if RRR is a distortion of history, Mayabazar is a distortion of the historic epic .’

‘I’d also like to point out one more thing to people who accuse me of supporting the BJP or the BJP’s agenda: when we first released an early character design of Bheem, I showed him wearing a Muslim skullcap [to disguise himself]. After that, a BJP leader threatened to burn down theatres showing RRR and said he would beat me in the road if we didn’t remove the cap. So people can decide for themselves whether I’m a BJP person or not. I hate extremism, whether it is the BJP, Muslim league, or whatever. I hate extreme people in any section of society. That is the simplest explanation that I can give.’

It looks like Rajamouli wanted to clear it once and forever so he won’t be labeled as a pro-BJP filmmaker or otherwise. We all know that Rajamouli is one passionate filmmaker and for those who don’t know, his answer will suffice.