Self-described “maximalist” directors Joe and Anthony Russo participated in a conversation organized by Netflix with S.S. Rajamouli, the Indian filmmaker best known for larger-than-life epics such as the two Baahubali films and more recently, RRR. The Russos spoke about the film’s crossover success facilitated by a Netflix release, and discussed the advantages of digital distribution.
Starring Jr. NTR and Ram Charan, the Telugu language hit RRR tells a fictionalized story about the real-life freedom fighters Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju’s exploits against British colonizers in 1920s India. The film, produced on a reported budget of around $70 million, has grossed over $150 million worldwide, and remains the second-biggest Indian film of 2022 behind K.G.F: Chapter 2. It was discovered by Western audiences after it debuted on Netflix (in the Hindi language). The Russos, on the other hand, are best known for having directed four massively successful Marvel films -- Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Their latest offering is the Netflix franchise-starter The Gray Man.
During the conversation, Rajamouli also spoke about his desire to direct an adaptation of the Prince of Persia video games, which he said he would play obsessively over a decade ago. All three filmmakers were asked by the moderator to name a recent film or show that made them think, “Wow, I wish I’d made that.” While Joe Russo spoke about the fourth season of Stranger Things and the third season of The Boys, his brother Anthony expressed his admiration for the first Iron Man movie, directed by Jon Favreau.
Rajamouli listed a few Telugu language classics, but also revealed that he’d probably watched the chariot race in Ben-Hur “thousands of times.” In his own words:
“One of the films is Bajrangi Bhaijaan. I so wish that I could have directed it. I could have blocked the story for myself, but didn’t. I regret that I didn’t… I used to play a game called Prince of Persia. I was really addicted to that game 15 years back. I really, really thought it would be very nice to write a story about that character and make it into a movie. Later, Disney made it.”
The Disney adaptation that Rajamouli was referring to is the 2010 film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular Prince Dastan, alongside Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley. Directed by Mike Newell, the film underperformed at the box office, grossing over $300 million worldwide against a reported budget of $200 million. Gyllenhaal later expressed regret about the movie in a 2019 with Yahoo Entertainment, reacting mainly to the allegations of whitewashing that were leveled against it. Middling reviews and a perceived lack of interest among audiences resulted in planned sequels being canned.
Which means that the series could, theoretically, be rebooted. And Rajamouli is now certainly in Hollywood’s radar, having attracted the attention of not only the Russos — who called RRR “amazing” — but also of their fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe directors James Gunn and Scott Derrickson.
If Rajamouli — the most successful mainstream filmmaker in India — is able to bag an American project, he’d become the latest in a very small list of Indian filmmakers to have crossed over into Hollywood. Other notable examples are Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Tarsem Singh (Immortals, Mirror Mirror), Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake), and most recently, Ritesh Batra (Our Souls at Night, The Sense of an Ending). None of them, however, have the kind of knack for large-scale sword-and-sandal action that Rajamouli does. And that would probably make him a great choice for a Prince of Persia film, if another one is ever made. You can watch the full chat here: