SS Rajamouli continues to receive laurels for his magnum opus RRR even after being honoured at the 95th Academy Awards. The filmmaker who set the bar high with the global box office success of his epic action-drama recently went to Japan. He attended the Jr NTR-Ram Charan starrer’s Japan premiere. In a video shared by the news portal Glute, Rajamouli also shared how he prepped MM Keeravaani for his Oscars 2023 speech ahead of his grand win for Naatu Naatu.

Rajamouli says Keeravaani practised his Oscar speech for three weeks

Rajamouli got candid with audiences in Japan about his experiences when RRR was nominated at the 95th Academy Awards for Best Original Song. The filmmaker said, “One of the funniest things during Academy Awards happened with my elder brother MM Keeravaani. He was nominated for the Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu. So, he was very confident about winning the award. In the Oscars Awards they only give 45 seconds to deliver the speech. So, for him to get up from his chair and come up, he would get a bit of breathlessness.”

“So, for about three weeks before the Academy Awards happened, we used to make him practice. We made him walk up to a place where there were stairs and just wave hands and catch his breath before he could deliver his speech. And we always told him to walk slow to avoid breathlessness and deliver his speech. He said ok. That is how he practised all those three weeks. But on the day when it was announced that RRR won the coveted award, he forgot all the training. But luckily, he didn’t get breathless and managed to deliver his speech. He sang the song Top of The World. Next day when we were back in our house and were really happy, Richard Carpenter, he sang the actual song with his daughters and paid tribute to my brother (Keeravaani). That was the time he cried,” he added.

Rajamouli’s next project is an untitled action-adventure with Mahesh Babu. It is in the pre-production stage. So far, the collaboration is being termed as SSMB 29.