‘RRR’ scriptwriter V Vijayendra Prasad says Oscar a win for Indian film fraternity, recalls phone call with PM Modi

Vijayendra Prasad
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Shortly after SS Rajamouli’s RRR scripted history at the 95th Academy Awards on Monday, the film’s scriptwriter and Rajya Sabha MP, V Vijayendra Prasad, called it a moment of triumph for the entire film fraternity of India.

V Vijayendra Prasad, who also happens to be the father of the film’s director SS Rajamouli, was among the members to be recommended for nomination to the Upper House of Parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Prasad said, “I got a call on July 6 from the PMO saying they want to entrust me with some responsibility. However, till the time I received the phone call, I had no clue that I was being nominated to the Rajya Sabha. On July 7, I received another call from the PMO, with the caller saying that Modi-ji wanted to speak to me. Modi-ji started speaking in Hindi but I told him that my Hindi isn’t that good. He then started speaking in fluent English and offered me a Rajya Sabha seat. He said, ‘The President wants to offer you a seat in the RS’.”

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On RRR bagging the coveted golden statute at the awards gala in Los Angeles for the chartbuster ‘Naatu Naatu’ continuing its golden streak since bagging the Golden Globe in January, Prasad said, “For long, I had wished for our movies to make waves in Hollywood. Despite having such rich content, we could never really find a foothold beyond Indian shores. That our film made it to the Oscars and won an award is a moment of triumph for the entire film fraternity of India. Our entire film fraternity can and should celebrate this moment of glory because we have, at last, been able to showcase the wealth of talent that we possess. It is such a vast market out there.”

On his upcoming projects, Prasad said a sequel to RRR is in the works. “Sometimes my son (Rajamouli) asks me in what aspects is India the richest in the world. I tell him that our country’s richness lies in our storytelling. My son had a conversation with acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who told him never to compromise on our culture of storytelling. We will be making a sequel to RRR,” he said.

‘Naatu Naatu’ has had a glory run across awards galas in recent months. Before entering the Oscars fray in January, the song won the Golden Globes in the ‘Best Original Song’ category. Five days later, RRR bagged two more awards at the 28th edition of the Critics Choice Awards – one for ‘best song’ and the other in the category of ‘best foreign language film.’