SS Rajamouli signs with Hollywood agency CAA days after the blockbuster success of RRR

Just days after his magnum opus RRR was spurned as India's Oscar entry, filmmaker SS Rajamouli has been signed by American talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). RRR, which made over 1000 crore globally during its theatrical run and was well praised for its astounding action set pieces and visual effects, received positive feedback from western audiences after it was published on Netflix. The film was considered the favourite for India's official entry to the Oscars, but it was overtaken by the Gujarati film Chhello Show.

According to Deadline, SS Rajamouli has now been signed by CAA, which is being hailed as a big success for the agency given the filmmaker's strong demand in the west. RRR is the only non-English-language film to have trended globally on Netflix for ten weeks in a row.

When it was confirmed earlier this week that RRR is not India's official Oscar nominee, the film's team and fans were disappointed, and they took to social media to express their unhappiness. After the Film Federation of India (FFI) chose Chhello Show to represent India, RRR's US distributor Variance Films requested that the film be considered 'in all categories' by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Don't Look Up filmmaker Adam McKay also commented on RRR's omission from India's official Oscar submission. In a tweet on Thursday, the filmmaker expressed his support for RRR's nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. "This is a travesty," he wrote. But let's make sure it gets nominated for best picture. Can we screen it at the Rose Bowl? (How incredible would that be?) #RRR."

RRR is a fictitious story based on the lives of two real-life heroes and well-known revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, set in the 1920s before independence. While Ram Charan portrayed Ram, Jr. NTR aka Tarak played Bheem.

The film, which was made on a budget of around 300 crore, became one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017) are also among the highest-grossing Indian films. The director's next project will be an action-adventure starring Mahesh Babu. He has compared the movie to Indiana Jones and James Bond.