One of the most successful of Indian films in recent times is coming to the Royal Albert Hall with a live orchestra…
London
IN WHAT is hugely exciting news for many fans of popular Indian cinema – heroes Jr NTR and Ram Charan, the stars of global blockbuster, ‘RRR’ have confirmed they will be at the Royal Albert Hall for the live screening on Sunday, May 11.
As part of the Royal Albert Hall’s (RAH) Films in Concert screenings, the pair who became global icons after ‘RRR’, said they will be in London next month.
They will introduce the film and will also be present for the Q&A about the film with writer-director, the much celebrated and admired, SS Rajamouli and no less loved, musical director MM Keeravani, whose score for the film retains a powerful legacy.
The music will be played on the evening by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra conducted by Ben Pope.
and Komaram Bheem (JR NTR) in ‘RRR‘
The track, ‘Naatu Naatu’ from the film won on Oscar in 2023. There are several song sequences in the film.
Matthew Todd, director of programming at the RAH, said: “We’re so excited to be bringing this modern masterpiece to the Hall, and what better to celebrate it than in the company of its creators?
“The screening of ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ that we held in 2019 has gone down as such a special day in our history, and it’s a pleasure to be able to give the same treatment to the film’s spiritual successor.”
There was barely a seat in the 5,500 capacity hall for that and www.asianculturevulture.com was thrilled to meet and interview the stars of that film – Prabhas, Anushka Shetty, and Rana Daggubati.
At the time of going to press, neither star of ‘RRR’ has commented or spoken about their forthcoming trip to the UK and appearing at the RAH for the concert.
Jr NTR is filming currently with one of India’s most successful and still emerging India-wide directors, Prasanth Neel, in a project dubbed ‘NTRNeel’ by avid fans of both – it was reported this week that one of South India’s best known female star actors Shruti Hasaan had boarded for a cameo or item number song in this new film which began principal photography in February.
Item numbers are musical scenes (with dance) sometimes fronted by a star who doesn’t appear in the film or is a peripheral character in the film.
‘RRR’ director SS Rajamouli set tongues wagging this week when he referred to the the Neel-Jr NTR film, as ‘Dragon’ in a public.
Just four days ago, a post on X showed Jr NTR and Neel in discussion by the sea. NTR has just finished shooting a Hindi language (Bollywood) film, ‘War 2’.
Charan has also been in the news after another well known South Indian film star, Nani revealed a lot of actors from the region had belonged to a What’s App group that had not maintained its early activity and was said to include both Jr NTR and Ram Charan.
The latter’s last film was ‘Game Changer’ which released earlier this year but failed to create the buzz and excitement of some of his previous films.
Director Neel was behind the KGF duology; KGF, standing for Kolar Gold Fields; it was made in the Kannada language and had two instalments ‘KGF: Chapter 1’ in 2018 with the second, ‘KGF: Chapter 2’ (2022) doing spectacularly well and he furthered his reputation, with ‘Salaar’ in 2023 which starred ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ and ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’ megastar Prabhas.
‘RRR’ is one of the most successful films ever to come out of India and further cemented SS Rajamouli’s reputation as one of the great auteurs of popular Indian cinema.
The film is a period piece and completely fictional – set in pre-Independence period (1940s), when the Brits still ruled India.
Charan and NTR play characters initially on different sides of the colonial divide.
Charan is Alluri Sitarama Raju, an admired and respected police officer with the British administration – while Komaram Bheem is a peasant like figure who is desperate to help rescue a young girl from their community, who has disappeared and is understood to have been taken hostage by a fearful British administration.
The two characters’ paths cross and sets them both on a journey of discovery and revelation.
Keeravani’s music is masterly yet again, as it was in ‘Baahubali’ films and the musical maestro is only the second Indian to have a musical Oscar after AR Rahman for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
The films in concert series at the RAH have been running there since 2009 and the forthcoming season includes ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, ‘Gladiator’ and ‘How to Train your Dragon’ and marking 40 years since its premiere the classic ‘Back to Future’.
‘RRR’ is being brought to the RAH by Avex Classics International and was originally produced by DVV Danayya under his DBB Entertainment banner.
This version will be the original in Telegu language with English subtitles. ‘RRR‘ stands for Rise Roar Revolt and is also an amalgamation of Rajamouli (R), JR NTR (R) and Ram (R) names.
Listing
Sunday, May 11, 6pm.
‘RRR’ Live screening with orchestra music and SS Rajamouli, MM Keeravani, Jr NTR and Ram Charan in attendance at the Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, South Kensington London SW7 2AP
Tickets: Here
