[intro] The conferring of Padma Sri on SS Rajamouli breaks conventional thinking on awarding film directors their due. Our analysis.[/intro]
Rajamouli’s anointment as “Padma Shri” is one of the most sensational achievements. It’s a combination of luck, initiative and big ambition that SS Rajamouli who leap-frogged to world-fame with “Baahubali” should get this recognition so soon. Especially, when other film directors have got in the fag end of their life.
Luck, because the nomination for Rajamouli has come in just a dozen films being directed by him. This is a staggering feat when you know that several greats in South Cinema have not been ever nominated for such an honor. Take the case of just three generations of film directors. – Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, Ram Gopal Varma and S.Shankar. All three haven’t got a “Padma Shri”. Singeetham has made some of the most path-breaking films since 1972 and has made three Kannada blockbusters (compared to just one Kannada blockbuster by SS Rajamouli). RGV, despite his iconoclastic attitude, has created an inimitable brand of film-making that qualifies for an honor of Padma, especially given that Mani Ratnam, his contemporary got Padma Shri in 2002 itself. Shankar, another ace film-director who sizzled the masses and the classes with tech-savvy films kept pushing the envelope but his current form hasn’t grabbed enough attention for conferring an honor like this.
Initiative really helped. The nomination was initiated by Karnataka government and not by either of the Telugu state governments. (A move similar to director Bapu’s nomination just before his passing). This is poetic justice for SSR because his roots are based in Karnataka than AP or Telangana. This is quite ironic for the Telugu Film Industry because except in case of directors who got anchored in Hyderabad like K.Vishwanath, Dasari Narayanan Rao and K. Raghavendra Rao, TFI never really lobbied hard for giving its directors their due. Strange because, of late, the craze for watching a Telugu film comes as much from who is directing it than just who is the hero of the film – a fact that ought to be recognized by the hero-centric Tollywood. Had Karnataka not nominated from its quota, the immediacy of “Baahubali” would have got lost even though Rajamouli has the mettle in him to win many more laurels.
Audacity and big ambition has always been Rajamouli’s forte. After a normal début with “Student No.1”, Rajamouli kept pushing new themes and experimenting with different plots with “Simhadri” (in which he re-tested the “Basha” plot), “Chatrapati” (the benevolent dictator theme), “Yama Donga” (the unique Telugu “Yama” angle), “Vikramarkudu” (the dual role contrast story which became a successful Bollywood remake too), “Eega” (the Sci-Fi thriller). After taking a momentary pause with “Maryada Ramanna” (which was also remade successfully in Hindi), he launched his most audacious project “Baahubali”. The teaser was released a good two years even while making the film. This is the crux of his marketing genius. Typically, Tollywood has been following this since – teaser, audio launch, theatrical trailer and publicity buzz. But “Baahubali” released not just a teaser but also two minute trailers about the making of the film itself involving each of the prime actors and technicians which made it look like India’s biggest project. In the end, it became so and got lauded as India’s grandest and most-admired project in recent memory. Even Shankar couldn’t match the scale of Rajamouli’s ambition in this phase and getting stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t make the former’s “Robot-2″ any grander than what a sequel is.
The lesson is very clear for those who want to emulate the success of Rajamouli. If you have the ambition, initiative and the hard work to make it count, then even luck conspires to rain happy accidents like the award of Padma Shri. It shows that the road to winning the top country’s honors need not be long and weary where you get recognition at a time when it doesn’t matter. If you are an outlier, you will get it sooner than later – which is what Rajamouli’s achievement underscores. His response to the award is also quite humbling: ” I don’t know what to say. It is quite a mixed feeling. Very frankly I don’t feel I deserve the honor. This is not humility. I am quite aware of my achievements. But I haven’t created any artistic brilliance that deserves this honor.” Wish many more successes for Rajamouli.
