The documentary Modern Masters - SS Rajamouli, on Netflix, doesn’t cover all that the 50-year-old filmmaker has created through the years, except the few films he’s celebrated for, like Bahubali, RRR, Magadheera and Eega. However, the documentary’s director duo Raghav Khanna and Tanvi Ajinkya draw out the person behind the filmmaker. Over the 114-minute runtime, you get to know that the maker of some of India’s big-budget action fantasy films is as much a family man as he is a storyteller. Here are the highlights of the Netflix documentary.
A storyteller since he was a child
SS Rajamouli believes he has always been a storyteller, recalling how he would hold an audience’s attention even in his childhood and would tell stories to his friends in the extracurricular classes. Rajamouli credits his mother for encouraging this side of him. “My mother was different from other people,” he says, adding that she thought formal education was “overrated”. Her advice for Rajamouli was to read comics or story books, and to go out and play, which the filmmaker says nurtured his flair for storytelling. Rajamouli reportedly enacts the scenarios of his films for his actors with full expressions. Junior NTR calls Rajamouli a “fab actor” who doesn’t want to be in front of the camera.
A love story that continues
Rajamouli’s wife Rama reveals that when she met him for the first time, he was “one among many” and there was “nothing striking” about him. “I was not ready when he proposed marriage,” she shares, as she had a child from her previous marriage, but all that was of course “meaningless” for Rajamouli. And when Rajamouli persisted over a few years, Rama agreed to get married.
An atheist in a spiritual family
Rajamouli considers himself an atheist though his family is very spiritual. He remembers Rama being injured in an accident while they were shooting Magadheera in a remote place, and a terrified Rajamouli began to look for help. Later, he realised he wasn’t praying but crying frantically. His father (Telugu screenwriter and director) V Vijayendra Prasad believes a person needs to have a strong moral fibre to become an atheist. “I think, at some point, I chose karma yoga as my way of life. My work is my god. I have huge respect for cinema,” he added.
A sports nut
His son SS Karthikeya reveals that Rajamouli is relaxed at home and stressed at work. Rama complains that he is “very lazy”, so he won’t sleep but lazes around at home. The two things that keep him going are films and playing a sport, which could be volleyball, cricket or tennis. “Sports is like meditation,” says the Bahubali maker.
A ‘tourist guide’ for his fam
Despite his successful streak, Rajamouli says he is not consumed by thoughts of films. His farm, his family, his next holiday or the next game he wants to play are also on his mind. Rama harps on the fact that her husband is very “focused” and Rajamouli agrees that he can’t think of two things at the same time. His family members, especially his children, make fun of his strict holiday itineraries and call him a “tourist guide” as he is known to hand them detailed travel plans even on vacations. “It’s the middle-class mentality of putting everything together,” smiles Rajamouli.