S. S. Rajamouli is an Indian filmmaker who primarily works in Telugu cinema and is known for his action, fantasy, and epic genre films. Rachel Dwyer called Rajamouli "India's most significant director today". His films are typically characterised by their epic grandeur, unbridled heroism and larger-than-life characters. His films have themes and characters inspired from ancient Indian epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata and are noted for their integration of the essential lessons and emotions in those ancient epics with visual grandeur. He frequently mentions that the mythological themes in his films are storytelling elements intended to create strong emotional impact on the viewers and are not a reflection of his personality or worldview. His films also have a liberal dose of violence, often orchestrated in stylised action set-pieces.
Rajamouli's films mostly follow the three-act structure where every major plot point ends on a high note with the film having a clap-worthy moment every 10 to 15 minutes. Several of his films also feature flashback episodes. His recent films focus heavily on visual storytelling. They are primarily made in Telugu and then dubbed into various other Indian and foreign languages. His works are typically visual effects-heavy, and he is one of the pioneering filmmakers in India in integrating computer-generated imagery (CGI) with live action. He prefers practical effects over CGI and likes to capture as much footage as possible in-camera. With his Baahubali films, he has pioneered the Pan-Indian film movement.
M. M. Keeravani, his cousin, has worked as the music composer for all of his films. Rajamouli has co-written several of his films with his father, Vijayendra Prasad. Rajamouli's wife, Rama worked as a costume designer or stylist for all of his films starting from Sye. Other frequent collaborators include editor Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao, cinematographer K. K. Senthil Kumar, production designers Sabu Cyril and S. Ravinder, action choreographers Peter Hein, Ram-Lakshman, and King Solomon. His films feature many recurring actors, notably Prabhas, Ram Charan, Jr. NTR, and Anushka Shetty, who appeared in lead roles in several films.
Themes
A penchant for "larger-than-life" filmmaking, combined with a fascination for historical and mythological themes; abound with forts, battles, kings and their tales had Rajamouli helm films like Yamadonga, Magadheera and the Baahubali duology.
Rajamouli has cited ancient Indian narrative epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata to be inspirational sources for his storytelling. He revisits the Amar Chitra Katha comics and keeps reading different versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata from time to time. About the presence of mythological elements in his films, Rajamouli spoke thus:"I am deeply influenced by mythology. Including it in my projects has always been a very sub-conscious decision because I grew up listening to the stories of mythology from my grandparents. It is completely embedded in my blood. Whatever goes in, comes out. I have so much input of mythology, it comes out in my stories in different forms. I feel very proud of it."
A scene in Simhadri had the protagonist impale a rapist on spikes overhead and bathe in his blood, who is then given a abhisheka by the priests for his deed. Baahubali series had elements resembling narratives from Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Devasena-Bhallaladeva scenes mirror the Sita-Ravana interactions in the Ramayana. The Baahubali-Bhallaladeva conflict parallels the Pandava-Kaurava conflict in the Mahabharata. Magadheera and Eega had the concept of reincarnation in its central plot.
Piyush Roy, a critic and film historian, attributed the success of Rajamouli to his ability to integrate the essential lessons and emotions in stories of Indian epics with visual grandeur. He noted that "aspects such as constant duel between good and evil, women as strong characters, presence of mother figures like Kunti and Gandhari are recurrent themes of his narratives."
Rajamouli frequently mentions that his films are not a reflection of his personality or worldview. He stated that the mythological and religious themes in his films are storytelling elements intended to create strong emotional impact on the viewers. He is also inclined to make films that transcend beyond language. Regarding that he says, "I learned that if I make my story based on basic human emotions, you can translate beyond the language. I have a chance to connect with more people."
Devarsi Ghosh of India Today observed that "the themes of an orphaned hero, a secret backstory, a separated family and a protagonist in search of his/her origins are prominent in Rajamouli's films." Themes centered around Jealous siblings, and adopted sons who strive to prove their loyalty featured prominently in Simhadri, Chatrapathi, and Baahubali. His films also have elements of tragedy which is not typical for commercial Telugu cinemathe death of Vikram Rathore during the central set-piece in Vikramarkudu, Kaala Bhairava jumping off the cliff in Magadheera, the self-immolation of the fly in the climax of Eega, the betrayal and death of Amarendra Baahubali in Baahubali films.
Rajamouli's films feature strong, principled heroes. Piyush Roy noted that the Veera rasa (heroism), amongst the navarasas, is the most prominent in the characters of Rajamoulis protagonists who make the film very engaging. The antagonists in his films are irredeemable with no moral compass. His protagonists have graduated from pure brawn in Simhadri, Chatrapathi, and Vikramarkudu to thinking, intelligent heroes who overthink their antagonists in Maryada Ramanna, Eega, and Baahubali. Rajamouli also experimented in Maryada Ramanna with a protagonist who is not hypermasculine or courageous–traits that are typical of his leads.
Revenge is a theme that regularly features in his films. When asked why this is so, in an interview with filmmaker Sandeep Vanga, Rajamouli said, "I believe revenge is the strongest emotion. I don't set out to make a revenge drama in particular. Revenge is an emotion that strongly and easily resonates with the audience. So, most of the time it's revenge."; From 0:25 to 1:15 His films generally use a wide range of animals and Rajamouli attributes this to his love of animals.
Rajamouli's films also have a liberal dose of violence, often orchestrated in stylised action set-pieces. He cited the violence in Indian epics as an important factor that shaped up India, and as a filmmaker he doesn't think anyone in India would tone it down if not for the censorship. The violent scenes are often employed to induce awe in the viewer. His films also feature protagonists wielding ornate weapons.
Method Maintaining that his storytelling style has remained the same since he was in class two, Rajamouli prefers to set his films in an unrealistic and a fantasy world so that people can come out of their world into his. "I like people to be awe struck by my films," he said. His films mostly follow the three-act structure where every major plot point has a setup, confrontation, and resolution; resulting in a screenplay where every plot point ends on a high note with the film having a clap-worthy moment every 10 to 15 minutes.
Several of Rajamouli's films feature flashback episodes where the protagonist's backstory is revealed, typically in the second half of the film. This narrative style is used in Simhadri, Vikramarkudu, Magadheera, Baahubali: The Beginning, and RRR. The high point of Rajamouli's narrative style is considered to be the pre-interval scene—the scene immediately prior to the intermission. His pre-interval action scenes rev up the emotions of the audience creating a high point that increases the interest for the second half of the film. Examples include the Godavari Pushkaralu fight scene in Simhadri, the pre-interval fight scene in Vikramarkudu, and the 100 soldier fight scene in Magadheera.
Describing his films as “big-scale action movies driven by hard-core emotion”, Rajamouli considers himself to be a magnifying glass that enhances the various emotions of the characters on screen, and sees the presence of violent action as an integral factor that engages the viewer with on screen proceedings. "For me, the character being emotionally charged up at that moment to go into that action sequence is very, very important," said Rajamouli about action sequences in his films.
Rajamouli's initial films have comedic sub-plots and songs that are not integral to the main plot of the film. He noted, “Initially, I used to add a lot of scenes for the sake of comedy, songs because I used to fear how people would react if they aren't there. Once I got a lot of confidence as a story-teller, I no longer see the necessity to do all that”.
Rajamouli regrets not working for a longer time as an assistant director. “When I made my first film Student No: 1, I didn't know how to use a crane because I never used a crane while I was doing my TV serial." He mentions basic shotmaking as his biggest shortcoming as a director. “I still don't know which shot exactly gives me what I need. I get so many doubts whether I should keep the camera standard, whether I should move the track-in slowly, how close should I really get close to the eyes, close to the face, whether I should go a little bit to the top. There are thousands of options that run through my mind and I don't know which is the right thing to do. That is my shortcoming. I can't decide which is the right camera angle," he noted in an interaction in June 2022.; Event occurs from 24:56 to 26:47
In the beginning of his career, Rajamouli used to act and show the actors how to perform or enact the character and was very adamant on the minutiae of their performances. "Slowly I realised that all my actors are looking the same. All my actors were imitating what I was doing. Then I thought, why do I go to a particular actor? (It is) because he has a specific ability. Then I started hammering the emotion into the actor and let them perform accordingly," he noted.
Beginning with the Baahubali films, Rajamouli started conducting workshops with the major cast members and writing everything about a character the complete backstory of the character including traits and events that aren't present in the final film prior to the commencement of principal photography.
Rajamouli's films typically, are visual effects-heavy and he is one of the pioneering filmmakers in India in integrating computer-generated imagery (CGI) with live action. He mentions his preference for practical effects over CGI and likes to capture as much footage as possible in-camera. Rajamouli's craft in CGI has improved with time. The CGI in the underwater shark-fighting sequence in Chatrapathi was considered ambitious, but choppy. The CGI sequences in Magadheera, Eega, Baahubali, and RRR are more polished with each film improving upon the previous one.
Visual storytelling
Rajamouli's later films focus heavily on visual storytelling. He noted in an interview, "While creating a story, I think 'If I switch off this dialogue portion, will the audience still connect to my movie?' Many times, the answer is a yes.”
“I try to tell my story through visuals. I try to put in as little dialogue as possible, but the dialogues we do put in ... my writers take excruciating care, writing version after version so that nuance does not get lost in translation.”
Multi-lingual films
Rajamouli's films starting from Eega have been made in Telugu language and then dubbed into various Indian and foreign languages. He described the process of making a multi-lingual film in this way.