Original subtitles

Action!

- Cut!

- Oh, God!

He took so much into his hands!

Yeah, I had to.

It's super white.

Fighting, dancing, singing, blood, laughs, tears!

A complete fiction based on two real Indian heroes.

RRR has it all.

A good story is a good story for all the people across the globe.

The people might be from different cultures, different races,

different languages. It doesn't matter.

Because human emotions are the same for everyone.

To make this story into a film,

and take it to the people across the borders,

there will be many hurdles.

Let it be distribution, budgets, marketing, the times of release.

But the biggest hurdle would be if I lack the belief.

If I don't believe in my story,

there is no way I can convince people,

from other languages or other countries,

to believe and come to the theater and watch my films.

Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju

were born around the same time.

They also went missing for a few years around the same time.

Let us pursue what if these two characters

met each other and drew inspiration from one another.

This gives me a chance to realize my…

long-held dream of bringing two heroes together,

and building a beautiful tale of friendship between them.

That is the start of RRR.

Clap in.

Background action.

Tarak, ready? Charan, ready?

And… action!

He's missing.

I'm in search of him.

Why didn't you seek my help?

Okay. The first shot is okay.

Whoo!

I first met him in 2006.

I wanted to make a good film with him.

And I got the opportunity to make RRR after 12 years.

Right from a very young age,

I had this big love towards action.

Whether it is films or comics or storybooks or novels.

I just love action.

Whenever there is an emotional moment

that needs to be conveyed to the audience,

I try to see if I can convey it through action.

The introductions are not just action pieces.

They convey a lot about the character.

Their coming together can be action.

Them realizing that they are not friends,

they are at loggerheads, can be action.

Them realizing their folly and coming back to save each other can be action.

Them getting together and fighting against a common enemy can be action.

So, there is so much scope in RRR,

where I can just let go

and design all the beautiful action sequences.

Out! Out!

Being in the production of Mr. S. S. Rajamouli's films is--

Whoever has seen the film knows…

how challenging it can be to put everything together.

And it is so challenging, not just because of the scale of the film,

or the scale of each of the sequences,

and what each sequence demands, but…

our director is always full of surprises.

And good surprises.

We prep for a sequence for about ten or fifteen days,

and then shoot the sequence for the next ten to fifteen days.

Or 20 days.

And then, we come back and again prep for the next sequence.

In the prep, almost each and everybody on set knows what's going to happen.

You know, before the actors come and ask what we are going to shoot.

In the 12 films I made,

never did I once think or fear…

that this is an idea that I cannot bring it on to the film.

That happened with Ram's introduction.

As you see, we are shooting my intro…

with close to 800 to 900 people,

which might look like 6000 to 7000 people on screen.

A mob mentality kind of a fight,

suffocating me, all falling on me at once, and how I get out of this.

I don't know if I am prepared.

I am preparing myself every day.

There are new challenges.

Quite a dusty fight.

Definitely, I call this a sinus fight.

I am definitely going to get some sinus problem after this.

Because he has a perfect body, neat body,

you just give him a uniform, he will look like a cop.

The cop hair would be actually very short.

But we didn't want him to have such short hair.

Those are all little cinematic liberties that we took,

left him with the right amount of hair, which made him look very handsome.

Why is Ram beating his own people?

By his demeanor, by his look, by the way he is progressing,

you can see he is a hero.

But by his action, he looks like a villain.

So that gives an intrigue to the character.

How could he imagine something so beautiful, magnanimous, and big?

It's almost impossible to conceive such an episode.

There is a guy who takes a stone and throws it on his head.

After that, for a few seconds,

there's suffocation, how he gets out of the suffocation,

and again goes towards the goal of catching the guy in the turban.

That part was the most interesting part for me.

The most difficult part as well.

There's continuity for the next shot.

I didn't want any of the fighters dancing in the background.

Everyone has to fall on him,

and still he has to manage to go and get his prize.

And action!

I explained to Solman, my stunt choreographer.

You've heard of Mahabharata and Kurukshetra in our history.

Similar to how Abhimanyu jumps into thousands of people

and fights in the Kurukshetra,

I was asked to compose a sequence for Ram Charan.

After rehearsals, shooting, and editing,

I went to the director one day.

I saw that and I went…

"Wow!"

It's played on brass section.

I need some other quotient here,

which denotes his determination and strength.

That goes on a cello.

Come what may!

Come what may!

The audience needed to have that claustrophobic feel.

My cinematographer, he immediately understood what I was looking at.

We wanted it to be extremely rustic and realistic kind of a thing.

So for this, we used extensive hand held cameras,

synced with the action choreography which was happening.

Action!

Three, two, one.

Action!

Okay. Shot okay.

With the idea of "I'm going to arrest the bastard and bring him to me…"

These are the two sentences, and he twisted and stretched them.

Altercations to that particular sound and placed music over that.

Arrest that bastard…

and…

bring him…

to me.

More cuts of the wide shots

made the scene look unbelievable.

He also did a mock shoot of the whole thing, you know?

Lots of decisions were made that…

it's probably better to have the camera inside the crowd and not outside.

Dust was so high in the air…

that people didn't know where I was after they said "cut".

There was a guy with a white flag waving to the director and the team.

"The hero is right here."

Then they used to find me, go catch me there, and get me out.

There's a shot where Senthil has placed the camera near the eye,

and you can see the reflection of the people going back.

It's not a CG shot, it's a live shot.

Everyone's happy!

Bheem is from a tribe called Gond,

and he's called Gond Bebbuli…

which means the tiger of the Gond's tribe.

Tiger, the national animal of India.

I love everything about it.

For a long time I harbored the idea of having a tiger sequence.

The introduction of Bheem provided me with that.

I was actually waiting to shoot for the sequence.

I was very excited when I got to the sets.

It was fun to watch so much technique.

This man is so sure about what he wants and how he wants it.

Not only his actors, he's particular about his CG tigers too.

We used his community's identity, that's Gond or Gonde.

Introduction theme.

♪ Gonde! ♪

It's like a wild animal cry,

which can stand against a wild roar of a lion or tiger.

There was a lot of physical endurance which Rajamouli commanded from my side.

Because that was the only sequence in the movie where

you could actually see Bheem showing his body off.

But he was very particular about how the body needs to look.

He did not want me to become very lean.

He did not want me to have these dried-out six packs or--

Yeah, he just wanted me to look like a very strong bull.

You know, when a bull is facing off a tiger.

He wanted me to look like-- You know, Bheem comes from the forest

and he's an Adivasi.

So he wanted me to look like a very strong tribal.

And that's the reason why he did not want me to take my body hair off.

He wanted me to be very, very, very masculine for that movie.

To get that tiger feel in the on-location, we did two things.

One is that blue ten-foot dummy.

We hired a six and a half foot stuntman to get that real weight.

So that Tarak can feel and emote accordingly.

We were able to capture the lighting through the HDR ball.

In his intro, we gave him a bare body to show his physical strength.

Because he's from a forest,

and the forest people are generally physically very fit and strong.

The camera moves slowly and then it rotates.

The same movement, we also emulated in the location.

So, we merged the plates in CG later.

It sets the mood of what we are going to tell in the story.

The person won't be cut off the frame, right?

10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16…

Bheem had to run.

Run real, real fast.

So the person who was holding the camera and running,

he's a parkour guy.

I said "action," and Tarak ran so fast.

I still remember the look on the cameraman's face.

- He said… - Action!

"My God! I need to put my running shoes on."

He said, "Let's do it again."

When we had Tarak jump in the air…

There was no tiger, there was no wolf when we shot it.

But the moment I saw his body turning in the air and going out,

I thought, "Wow, I got my shot."

The speed of the animals is extremely high.

So we did the animations first.

Then we realized what the speed of the animal is.

And according to the animations, we made the actors act.

Doubly difficult for Tarak.

It's not just imagining the animal.

He has to imagine the animal with the correct speed, correct movement,

and deliver his performance.

Physically, a very strong man.

And emotionally, a very vulnerable person.

Once the sequence is over,

once the tiger is laying down unconscious,

the way he picks it up and says,

I'm sorry brother, I had to do this.

That is what really connects Bheem to the audience.

I'm sorry I had to do this to you, brother.

Forgive me.

I want like two heroes.

- Okay. Face to face and shouting at each other.

The ropes, you know, he did not want to take this cinematic liberty there.

So while I was pulling the ropes,

there were counterweights also attached to the ropes,

so that it looks very natural that you are actually…

pulling a rope rather than just flexing your muscle.

So, it was very, very, very beautifully and aesthetically designed,

where the brutal strength, the hard work of the artist is shown.

The brutal strength of the character is seen.

And plus, you have that raw sequence,

which is happening between a human and an animal.

You know, a wild animal.

One of the iconic shots of RRR is the face to face with the tiger.

All throughout the sequence, you see

that Bheem is not happy with what he is doing.

There is a kind of vulnerability on his face.

In this particular shot, you can't show empathy towards the tiger.

That doesn't mean you have to be angry with it.

The shout is for you to get your energy pumped up.

And when we did that,

- the roar that he gave… - Are you ready?

Uh, I had goosebumps while shooting it.

I had shot not with one tiger but two tigers.

An interesting characterization or behavior is not that difficult.

But creating the reason for why they are behaving in such a way…

is the most difficult thing.

The way his father brought him up,

and what happened between his father and him.

The promise he made to his father is actually the heart of RRR.

The intricacies in the drama,

the emotions, the ups and downs in both our characters,

and also the other characters, were so beautifully designed.

Anyone would have known

that the child has been taken away by throwing a few coins at them.

But they just don't get it.

They take his sister away.

The way Bheem behaves comes from

what he has been taught right from his childhood,

even though we don't see that in the film.

No more submission!

We must rebel!

We must kill whoever comes in the way of that!

We have established the character of Ram,

established the character of Akhtar.

Their paths are going to collide.

If it's a small sequence where they just meet in a cafe,

and just have a coffee together, saying hi, even that would work

But for me, it's like a situation delivered on a platter

for the kind of action sequences that I can come up with.

The second day of the shoot was like…

the swinging sequence.

They came the next day, and they saw the stunt performers doing that and said…

- Scared about? - These things.

- Nah! Not that much. Not that much. - All the best.

But yeah, it is something new.

- Ready, sir? - Rajamouli will handle everything.

- Ready, sir? - Ready.

Myself on a horse, and he on a bike.

First two days of mock shoot and I thought, "Wow, this is so easy!"

I never imagined it.

Probably this is how the next 100 to 200 days are going to be.

The next day, we all entered the sets.

I was a bit late and Tarak was already swinging at 60 to 80 feet above,

and I thought, "My God! This is what we are going to do."

Fifteen days later, we were still hanging 60 feet high

So, literally, literally, literally, he made us swing for, like,

five or six days, I think.

And every time we started swinging,

he wanted more of it.

He just loved the whole sequence and then he started off having new shots.

"Oh, my God! This angle is so good."

"Oh, the posture here of the hero is nice! Bheem is good here!"

You know, like, "Ram's posture is good here."

"What if both of them change their positions and…"

It started off and there was no end to it.

Seeing Tarak and me hang, both of us had a good tough time.

The believable action sequences, which was the director's vision first.

So he told me it should be something which nobody has seen.

We really had to create everything. Like, even create train miniatures.

The whole bridge was done here.

Only the carriages were done abroad and brought.

This is the shot that we need, sir.

A small blast and then pull it.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…

- nine… - Cut!

Action!

Two pillars covered in blue for the shadow.

That is then one water bed. And the other thing is the road.

I think the 80-foot road was treated as a bridge-top road.

These are the only two things we built.

And the entire thing, what remained was digitally created.

Invisible effects, I can say that.

We had to break down the sequence into so many different parts.

Like on the bridge, under the bridge,

on the track, before the blast, after the blast.

A sequence was divided into so many elements

and each part was shot as a complete scene by itself.

Most of the time, we did was…

a combination of miniature and CG, and then live location.

I don't try to give any message to the audience.

Also don't go for much of metaphors. But here, everything came in together.

The metaphor for me was the small kid, the country itself,

and the country was burning in the freedom struggle.

Help! Help!

- Cut, cut! - Help! Help!

When two people meet,

the most common thing they say is that they give away their names.

Here it is Raju and Akhtar basically saying that

a Hindu and a Muslim are willing to go to any lengths to save the country.

They go like this and… jump!

- A basic ritual. - Right.

Me and my best friend in the industry, Tarak,

coming together on the screen,

and for the audience, the two dynamic characters,

the two historic characters meeting on the scene,

it was such a surreal moment for all of us.

VANDE MATARAM

The first song that we recorded for the film was the "Dosti" song.

The theme looks very gentle and soft, rendered in a very base tone.

It's very calm but it's not that.

"Daradam daradam daradam-dam" doesn't have any meaning.

It has a sense of trepidation.

It feels like something is going to happen.

It's about irony, it's about friendship,

a volcano that may erupt any moment.

Sitarama Sasthry garu, the legendary lyricist, worked on this song.

What I wanted was… I told him like…

It's all about their friendship, enmity, and emotions.

- Innately, they're enemies. - Yes.

- But strangely, fallen into a friendship. - Yes.

When we reveal why, it's going to be an emotional ride.

"Dosti" is one such song, which is giving you a prelude

of what is going to happen,

when the truth is revealed to both the characters.

A very angelic feeling coming down from the heavens.

So the water-- When we both were coming down,

it was such a calm, pleasant moment.

Where you have fire all around, and then they jump into the water.

And the water sequence, where you have fire on top of the water.

So, it's fire and water together.

That's what Rajamouli probably wanted to showcase.

The main challenge was to create a fire on the surface.

The major source of light underwater was…

the fire on top of the water layer.

For that, I used a lot of dino lights, dedolights and sky panels.

It was a huge truss.

Probably around 50 by 40 truss kind of a thing, which--

So much light is pumped in.

By the time it reaches Tarak and Charan, who are on the bed of the floor,

it really diffuses.

So, to get that effect, I had to use really heavy light for that sequence.

Thirty-five altogether.

- Thirty-five? - Altogether.

- At once? - Because 30 is what he needs for the shot.

Five for the reserve. So, 35.

So we had a whole bunch of, you know, like, a big team which came in.

Uh, you know, a team of deep sea divers. Very professional deep sea divers.

They were teaching us how to hold our breath in water.

And we had those oxygen masks.

You know, we had to keep them till the director says okay for the shot.

And then we had to take a deep breath, leave it,

then perform the shot, and then immediately come onto the surface.

It used to-- It wasn't easy. From 20 feet to come up,

and then catch your breath.

It was very, very, very intimidating.

Three, two, one. Action!

We had tried to put a lot of sandbags or metal plates in my pockets.

They're in the back, so it's not seen.

Still, the weight was not enough to keep me down.

They had a metal shoe. A metal strip made on the sole of the shoe,

so it's not seen.

It still has the weight that can pull me down and keep me at the bed.

Not drown me but, of course, keep me there just until I finish my shot.

And… action!

It had a lot of lyrics…

which were telling exactly opposite to what their relationship was.

So we always had to create those sort of visuals at the right moments.

The Dasara setup, where the kid and parents thank him.

Because this is a Dasara setup, we can have some good visuals.

"Utti-kottadam." Breaking the pot happens a lot in

Hindu festivals for Krishnashtami.

People form like a human pyramid and try to break the pot.

Excellent!

Nice expressions!

But you're not looking at each other.

It's okay, Jakkanna. We don't have to.

It looks nice and natural.

It's good enough, Jakkanna.

It's frightening, really.

- We have more shots to go. Don't worry. - Which one?

This particular phrase we used as a theme for the "Dosti" song,

I think it's exactly matching the requirement of the plot.

It's not just the theme for the "Dosti" song.

It's the RRR theme.

We have this beat, six-eight signature, that's a musical term.

In Hyderabad, my hometown, it's called "Teenmaar".

"Teenmaar" beat goes like this.

It's a folk beat.

The kind of music you'll listen only from India.

Maybe from portions of African music.

Africa and India, they mastered in doing compositions,

bringing out songs and score in this particular beat.

When the song "Naatu Naatu" starts with the opening prelude of the beat…

That very beat itself was-- They were all taken aback.

- Now what is this "Naatu"? - Yes, clap in.

Boom, music!

Do you know…

Naatu?

What is Naatu?

Cut! Super!

The lyrics were penned by Chandrabose.

He has the knack for writing words which are very catchy.

We instantly start humming his words.

"Naatu Naatu" is a song…

which showcases that once you are good, good, real, true friends,

you don't need to look at each other…

to understand what the other is going to do.

or to understand the other's mind, heart, or body language.

You just don't need to because you just become one.

You're not two individuals anymore.

And that's exactly what Rajamouli wanted to showcase for "Naatu Naatu".

Always… when Tarak and I had been shooting for RRR,

we always wondered, when will this song come.

I'm sure there is a sequence where both of us are going to dance.

Prem Rakshit, the choreographer, he understands what the director needs,

what the audience need,

the body languages of the actors who are performing those moves.

"Prem, we're doing a song like this." He explained the concept to me.

It has to be a fight cum dance, but also tell a story.

When we saw the choreography, we were like,

"Fine! This is quite easy. We will do it."

We've rehearsed it separately in our own spaces before going to Ukraine.

Again we went to Ukraine, we rehearsed for another seven days.

Then we shot the song for 12 days.

But I never imagined it was going to be one of the most difficult shoots,

difficult song, and the most difficult choreography.

We composed over 100 moves because…

both the actors' body language has to be in sync.

Tarak and Charan sir's body languages are different.

They have to perform equally.

The song's motto was to keep people wondering who the better dancer is.

There were times when I used to go and say, "Why?"

Why? You know, because we are two different people.

You know, we come from two different backgrounds.

We come from two different dancing styles.

I said, "Why not? Why shouldn't each person have a different dancing style?"

Rajamouli was like, "No."

"NTR and Charan can have different styles but not Ram and Bheem."

"These are my heroes. They are supposed to dance the way I want them to dance."

He wanted us to look the same, in sync.

Even mind, body, and soul. It had to look like it's one person.

That was the concept, that was the emotion behind the song.

For me, it is a story within a story.

If RRR is a big story, "Naatu Naatu" sequence itself is a story.

It was not shot as a song but was shot as a sequence.

While the song was editing, we used to extend

wherever these moments had to come.

And we used to put only the rhythm.

I mean, if the song was about four minutes, the scene was five minutes.

Then later, the music director had created the music for it.

We were able to bring that drama in such a powerful dance number.

We had to give many types of costumes.

There were servers, there were guests.

There were Indian guests, European guests.

And everything was from the 1920s.

Convenient costumes where they can easily move.

As well as they should look like they were wearing a dress for a party.

This is the sequence and frame, this is the dress that they are wearing.

He very beautifully added the suspenders into a step.

Any non-sync between us, we would do the whole thing back again.

There are shots where we have done it 17 times.

Obviously, there were some more shots where we did it 20-22 times also.

That "Naatu Naatu" famous step was almost done 18 times.

Because we both have respectively done it perfectly.

But we were not doing it in sync.

That is Mr. Rajamouli garu's sync.

So he had this crazy big monitor…

where he used to step freeze each and every shot.

And then show us, "Your hand hasn't reached the mark here yet.

But his hand has reached.

So now I want your hand to reach that mark at the proper time and beat."

I was like, "Oh, my God."

Do you want another take? No, right?

Your action….

- You listen to me. - What? What? What?

But I worked so hard.

Each country has its own work culture.

The other units are unwilling to understand our work culture and…

work in tandem with us.

In Ukraine, it was the best.

Within a day or two they understood that

we come from a different country, we have a different culture.

They immediately blended into our work culture.

And we had a fantastic time shooting it.

Every day was a challenge.

You know, when you are not working in your zone, your country,

when you go to another country,

it is a challenge because the working styles are different.

Sometimes they need to come into our zone and we need to go to their zone,

which we did comfortably.

But still, that was another challenging sequence.

And again, no complaints.

You are trying to repeat

after, very slowly, without falling into the music.

Simply natural, harmonious, as if you really want to learn how to dance.

We chose a colonial looking building there and then…

did up the whole decoration using the local crowd.

The local art director was there to help me out.

End portion of it, I had to really use a lawn area in between a park.

And then we made up the whole set up there and did it.

The step here is like a very simple step.

At one point of time, it isn't about whether you can dance or not.

It's all about how long you can do this step.

Both of you look up slowly.

Smile off.

Smile off. Yes.

Think it's either you or me. And then start off.

- Okay? - We scream on two, three, four.

Smile goes down.

Smile goes down on five, six, seven, eight.

You'll see him like this.

I turn towards Charan on one, two, three, four.

- You'll turn like this. - Five, six seven, eight, he turns to me.

I turn towards him on one, two, three, four.

Five, six, seven, eight.

That's right!

Cut! Checking.

In "Naatu Naatu", I have to make people feel like…

these two guys are so understanding of each other

that people are ready to believe whatever they do,

what's going to come next.

The screenplay is intelligently crafted by the director.

Everything put the "Naatu Naatu" song on a high pedestal and…

it became viral.

It is always a bad guy and a good guy who fight.

The creative tension is easy to create.

The whole interval sequence is a testimony for that.

The kind of emotion that you will get if a good guy and a good guy fight.

Brother…

I hid something from you.

I'm not Akhtar.

I'm not a Muslim.

- Bheem. - Bheem.

He's a tribal. He doesn't have many friends in the city.

He doesn't want to endanger his only friend Ram's life.

The only friends he can get are the animals

which he has been capturing for sometime,

and he comes with the animals and goes.

The greatest jump of a hero in a movie, I would call it.

I think it's probably one of the best re-introductions of an actor in a movie.

Because there's already an introduction which happened.

And this is like the second introduction.

The true get-up of Bheem is revealed.

The most challenging sequence in RRR, I mean, for me as a line producer,

Actually, it was every sequence for me.

Especially, because this is my first time as a line producer.

Every sequence was challenging.

But to top all of them was undoubtedly the interval sequence.

The reason being the number of extras on set…

And the different kinds of extras.

Everybody was not from the same section.

We had foreigners, we had stunt guys from different parts of the world.

We had about 50-60 stunt guys,

200 foreigners, and then body builders and then just extras.

And we had character artists.

Like there was a mix of so many people. Close to 1500 in total.

So just when we were shooting this huge sequence,

which was going at a brisk pace,

we were through with 30 nights out of the 60 that we had planned.

Just then, the whole world was hit by COVID.

Everything just came to a halt. We were all confused.

We were waiting for it to pass in a month or two.

And then it just went on and on and on.

I mean, at least for about eight months.

Slowly, we were given permissions to start shooting.

Obviously with a lot of regulations and precautions.

We started doing that.

We did what all we could, got the crew down by 50 percent.

As far as RRR was concerned, the biggest challenge was that…

we couldn't fly in the foreigners, who were a major part of the movie.

So we were just waiting relentlessly for the International travel to open.

We were just hanging in there.

Just then that opened and we started shoot again…

for the remaining 40 percent that was left.

And right in three or four months, again we were hit by the second wave.

This was actually the most challenging part

during the entire shoot of RRR…

that we were hit by two lockdowns.

Initially, I miss it,

take a jab, and then go at him again. That's better, right?

All the animals are coming out of the truck in the interval sequence.

He wants to keep the emotion for longer,

stylized, hyper-realistic, extreme slow motion shots.

Doing the visual effects was one of the toughest and unique tasks of the film.

- Cut, okay. Nice. - Okay.

I have been to many places across the world.

And I have seen the film many, many times with the audience.

And when the shot of the animals comes out,

I never look at the screen.

I'll be looking at the audience.

His hand will go as far as it can. That's the movement.

Lift up a little bit and try to shake it off.

Try to disrupt…

The turmoil I had within myself mentally…

And I can't show that.

I had to be keep this deadpan face.

Show no remorse, no empathy.

Yet, I have to feel within me and struggle in the battle within me.

The external battle is physically with him.

I think it was the most satisfying episode as an actor to perform.

Also as an audience, it was the most difficult episode for me to see.

And, action!

I beg you, my brother.

Let me take Malli with me.

Let my take my sister home.

Cut!

That thing broke and fell off.

The production coordinators Mr. Yoganandh and Satyam…

They don't know one word of English.

But there are so many English actors there.

We called foreigners from four to five countries for the interval shoot.

We called everyone for the night shoot at four…

and get the actors ready for the director by six.

The shoot would start at 6:30 p.m.

The floor in Hyderabad is 200 feet. It's a big floor.

But this one is a 400 feet long set.

Four cranes on four sides.

We built 20 by 20 trusses and mounted lights on them.

In the center, we put big cranes and mounted lights on them.

We'd turn on the lights according to which side we're shooting.

It took us 65 days to manage all that and shoot.

A vision of a person

who's trying to really make it a big theatrical experience.

When he had shot without the animals,

you had to have a sense of how much length to leave of each shot…

so that this animal would fly across,

this animal would go across,

edit it a number of times to see that it's correct.

Before going into the shoot,

we did a detailed animation of all the animals.

Where all the timings are correct.

So that way, the director knows how fast the actor has to bend,

and from which position the character is moving to the next.

NCAM, it actually connects the physical camera.

In the actual shoot, what NCAM does is…

it actually connects the live camera to the virtual camera,

for which we have done the animation already.

Action! One, two, three four.

How to follow this,

and at the same time, trying to maintain the composition of the shot,

trying to include whatever character we have to include in real life.

NCAM was very useful in getting the speeds of the animals right.

It doesn't look fake.

How are the people going to understand how these animals are moving around them?

And once the animated tiger is placed in the sequence,

it'll look odd if the tiger is running one way and they're looking the other way.

It wouldn't work out.

Electronic eyes.

We gave the movement of the tiger, deer, or whatever in the 3D space to them.

Small LED bulbs would flicker, denoting the movement of an animal.

They wrote a small program for it.

- And when I say action… - LED strips start moving.

The NCAM inside the 3D animal starts moving based on that.

So I have to just follow it.

First few times, I didn't even see it when I was trying to operate because…

We realized how fast an animal moves.

It is like zoom, it goes!

Before he could pan the camera, the light had passed.

So we did so many rehearsals.

I had to really try to understand how the tiger moves at this speed.

Okay, this is how fast my camera has to move for that.

And we can't have lights all over the place because people have to run.

They can't get entangled in the wires.

So for the principal animals, it was the lights.

For the background animals and other animals, we had…

RC cars fitted with poles and trackers.

We had these cars going around while shooting for the sequence.

And all of a sudden, oh my god, there is a deer.

Oh, you know what, that's a leopard.

Then there we have a bear running.

It was really chaotic Shooting for that sequence.

There's a remote car running.

So, that's an animal. They have to react.

- React… - React to the animal, yeah.

A leopard which has attacked you from the back.

You have to take the leopard and throw it on to someone else.

And then you have a deer which has come and then…

you are guarding with the deer and then…

all of a sudden you have a tiger pouncing on you.

You have to just skid and literally go back,

and the tiger passes across your face.

I was like, how the hell are we going to do this?

Of course, Rajamouli has this plan.

So then… he gave me a football.

The football was the head of the leopard for me.

I had to put it behind me and then in front of me.

Then throw it on to somebody.

And then, of course, we had the greatest shot,

where the tiger is coming and trying to just hit me with its paw.

That shot took close to about five hours to perfect.

It was really both of us punching each other.

There was no scene where we had acted like we came close.

No, we were actually punching in the stomach and on the face.

There was a lot of contact.

We got so bored end of the day saying sorry to each other,

that we just said, "Yeah, it's okay. Fine, give it to me."

"Come on, bring it on."

So, we…

We were flowing, we were getting hurt.

And yet, what drove us through all these difficult parts of the shoot

was the emotion.

And… action!

Cut! One more.

Ready. Boys, get ready. Reset.

Charan sir mounts Tarak sir, locks him, drops him to the floor,

rolls, and then delivers a few punches.

We had to dig the ground underneath and make it a safe surface.

Huge pipes just swinging across.

I wish people could actually, literally visualize that because…

what you're watching on the movie does not do any justice.

It was so scary, it was so intimidating.

He had about six or seven pipes which were pressure controlled.

And the sound they were making behind me because, I was standing in front.

I had another crazy pipe which was swinging in front of me.

I didn't know if the water was going to hit my face.

I didn't know if the pipe is going to come and hit my face.

I had no clue.

Peak winters.

And I'm getting wet.

How is it going to be? God bless me.

Water… and action!

Cut! Checking.

The pipes had to move out like snakes on Medusa's head.

That is the exact instruction that I have given to Sabu sir, my production designer.

The director wanted a sequence where the whole fountain breaks…

and the pipes, he wanted them to dance like snakes.

Fifteen days we've been testing it out with

different lengths and different diameter pipes to get that final effect.

We had to use high pressure jets plus add extra high pressure air to the hoses,

which made it dance beautifully well.

Even with the firecrackers, we did a lot of testing to pick up the CG elements.

There was a hut full of firecrackers lit by the art department…

and the rockets, some of them are flying with strings attached or whatever.

- Okay, ready. - Cameras.

Light them.

Background action!

Action!

It had so much of smoke, fire… and water in it.

We needed a lot of smoke and water for this sequence.

We did the lights up in layers.

Water fountain was lit by certain lights and…

we had to place the smoke at a certain distance and light it up from behind.

Light it up in such a way that…

the light will not fall on to this… firecracker to travel towards the cameras.

It was so many layers of so many different fire things.

Smoke was lit with fire in the whole sequence.

It was done to enhance the drama which is happening on the screen.

Look!

Focus!

What happens at that moment gives you a cinematic high.

But what happens after that from becoming friends to enemies is the huge moment.

We had to keep that proportion right while in editing…

and see that this moment is what the audience took back at the interval.

Bheem is openly showing his angst, his anger, his hatred towards Ram.

And Ram can't show his empathy towards Bheem.

He's sad but it's like a plain dead face.

So I took the help of the blood coming down,

mixing with the with the tear that is in his eye,

and the mixture of blood and tear…

It's a very heart-wrenching decision

that the father had to take at that point of time,

putting so much of weight on the shoulders of a young kid,

as if our hearts are being squeezed as the episode happens.

The best part of the action I would say is…

the way he wants your body language, eyes, and expressions to be.

He does it himself and he shows it to you.

One and two.

Yes. Correct, sir.

The whole village was a setup which was done in Vikarabad.

We found a place which was an empty ground.

There was natural beauty with the forest on all sides, serving as their hideout.

I really enjoyed making so many guns.

There is action but it is not because of the action the heroism is coming.

He writes beautifully, he is amazing.

In the shootout,

the bullet from Ram's gun hits his little brother in the leg.

The father is so patriotic that he doesn't even look at the kid.

He says, "Load, aim, shoot!"

He loses his wife.

"Load, aim, shoot!" Father's dead too.

This is from a different story but we used it here for take off.

That became the flashback.

He wanted to break the flashback into two pieces.

Actually it was initially shot as one flashback.

But he broke it into two pieces in the script.

See the dog bleed.

He is the best in the country and I was waiting to work with him, and

when he came and narrated the character, I was amazed by the way he had written it.

Hi.

- How are you, sir? - How are you?

Hi, there.

Action!

The people of Telangana went through a…

very troublesome phase for a long period of time.

And there was continuous revolution.

The main weapon they chose to fight this revolution was the song.

For every occasion,

let it be a celebration, birth, marriage, let it be death itself.

Song is weaved into their lives.

Bheem, coming from the tribal in the Telangana region,

we thought that would really, really sync with his character…

and really take it several notches up.

He cannot fight back… physically.

So he motivates himself and gets some energy from whatever he believes in.

He went to his faith system.

Bheem does not have anybody else to encourage him…

or to bring him out of this devastating situation he is in.

He starts addressing himself as a third person

and he starts singing a song called "Komuram Bheemudho" where…

he keeps reminding himself not to bow down.

If there was any episode I felt jealous of…

when I heard it, when I looked at Tarak…

was when I saw him in the "Komuram Bheemudho" song.

Bheem needs to have a smile on his face,

he needs to feel the pain,

he needs to communicate his anger,

he needs to communicate his…

whatever backstabbing he has gone through, with Ram.

So there is so much that he needs to communicate.

But all this needs to be done with a smile.

But still the reactions of each incident or each whip…

needs to shine with each whiplash.

Cut! That's all!

I'm feeling bad that I am whipping this guy who is my best friend.

I want to show some kind of empathy.

And then he added saying, I am going to add a tear.

It looks like it is a slash of the blood.

But it's actually the tear which I am cleaning off my face.

I think that was such a subtle but such a strong shot in that whole episode.

It shouldn't look like as if they are cheating while hitting.

So it had to be a real force but it shouldn't hurt the artist.

There is a shot of them putting on to the wooden post…

and when he pulls it, it has to rip out.

So we had to use special wood and things like balsa wood,

so that the fibers come out showing the effect.

That made it more effective as much as possible to make it believable.

I think the story works and that is what the director wants.

It is like a lifesaving drug.

He may physically die but he is not giving up.

A song which connects to the innocent village theme song Malli used to sing.

The tune remains the same but the words are different.

He said all of this was going to happen on the stage.

I was like, a full song on the stage?

I had my doubts.

Later he told me that there is emotion and drama.

We started the choreography. I rehearsed the song for 15 days.

Till then everyone was shouting.

When the song started, everyone watched in silence.

Tarak really put his heart into it.

I didn't really need to tell him how to express.

I loved every twitch in his muscle when he acted for the song.

There was a sense of the revolution

that he had to irk in people's minds even if he died.

So there was a mix of emotions.

When you have a person like Rajamouli, it gets even tougher.

But I really proved something to myself…

after watching myself in "Komaram Bheemudo".

I could really feel that…

that sort of happiness in Rajamouli's eyes as well.

Komaram Bheemudo will remain with me for the rest of my life.

Cut! Perfect!

My reaction is recorded.

Really grateful for those two actors to be in that sequence and…

take it to the level that they did.

Now they are going to get closer…

and suddenly you realize that another misunderstanding is going to happen.

Clap.

Action!

As audience, we are willing them to clear the misunderstandings,

get their hands together and rejoice in what's going to happen next.

As writers, we didn't let it happen.

We stretched it a little bit more, taking it further.

One of the best shots actually went to Ray Stevenson who played Scott.

What movies are about… it's motion pictures.

I didn't want to bring any pre-conceived notions of other productions I've been on.

I've worked all over the world.

Ultimately, what we're doing is story-telling.

This a new genre, a new way of story-telling for me.

So I've tried to be as open as much, like a sponge.

That bastard, damn it!

Cut.

I remember on the day of shoot when I showed him what's going to happen,

he couldn't believe it.

"Can I take this shot back and show it to my kids?"

How Bheem attacked his bunch of soldiers,

and how Ram, even though he's bleeding he's is going after Malli to save her.

It leads to the final moment when we think, now they are going to get closer…

and suddenly you realize another misunderstanding is going to happen.

Malli!

For me one of the very important characters is Sita.

She comes at a crucial juncture

and helps the friends who are traveling in different paths.

How she is able to bring them together.

Sir's brief to me also about Sita was just…

her simplicity and her innocence should really shine.

But just keeping it extremely pure.

She's all about goodness, I would say.

Cut. Okay, nice.

This is my first non-Hindi speaking film.

It was very different for me because I'm speaking a language that I don't know.

Background action.

Action!

- He's got small pox. - What?

Small pox.

Cut, yeah. That's better.

Just give the Hindi line.

- He's got smallpox. - Yeah.

- He's got smallpox. - What?

Small pox, sir. Small pox.

One of my favorite experiences on this set is in between the shots…

Rajamouli sir coming and narrating different stories to me.

Of our history, of our culture that I have not known about.

It's very educative, I have to say.

Everyone out!

I'm alright.

And when I came on set, I was very nervous…

about the pronunciations and the pauses…

because I don't know what I'm saying.

Rajamouli sir directing you, telling you exactly what to do,

he just makes it so much easier.

But I didn't have to do much.

I just had to copy him and follow him and it was very easy after that.

And she clears the air for Bheem unknowingly…

when she talks about her fiance, what his aim is.

He's not just a police officer who is doing some service to the British…

but he's actually a revolutionary.

Initially shot as one flashback but he broke it in two places,

so that the second time is told to Bheem by Alia Bhatt.

When the blast happens and there's smoke,

you can see the other face from the younger Ram to the older Ram.

Although the story is about the younger Ram,

the image Bheem has of him is the elder Ram.

So that's why through the smoke,

we had kept his face and then come back to Bheem…

where he's shattered that he has done it for such a good cause.

Those sort of things were all improvised during the edit…

which was not really planned.

In the Indian epic of Ramayana, Sita is kidnapped by the villain…

and Ram goes in search of Sita in the epic.

Here the characters are named coincidentally Ram and Sita again.

Bheem says, "Sita shouldn't go in search of Ram.

Ram should go in search of Sita,

and I'm going to get Ram back to you."

It reinforces the belief that I have that…

a good scene is a good scene,

a good emotion is a good emotion for all the people across the globe.

He goes to the solitary confinement where Ram is enclosed and…

in the whole sequence, there's this rhythm, a sound which these people know.

It's like a communication between two friends…

and if you remember, that's the same sound which Charan makes

when he's bitten by the snake,

when Bheem is about to leave that place.

The same thing occurs here and both of them get together and…

all the differences are sorted.

Now comes the craziest sequence of RRR…

where Rajamouli truly depicts that they're not two souls anymore.

At this juncture, they are both one.

Every emotional high has an opportunity to be developed as an action sequence.

What else can I do?

I have brought animals, one man against thousands,

what more can we do here?

So I thought they should fight as one,

even though they are two people because…

now their ideas are aligned,

their misunderstandings have cleared,

their goals are one.

So why not literally make them as one person?

After all this drama, after all the separation,

when both of them come again together,

Tarak and Charan coming into one body.

It's like both our souls went into one person's body.

It should look bigger than both of us.

Sorry, both of us individually.

The mood of the theater was so jubilant seeing both the friends coming back…

and they know that they're not going to be separated ever again.

That's a very serious phrase.

But when you put it in a framework like…

It gives you an effect of action with fun.

Being chased by the police and shot at…

and trying to escape, climbing towers, jumping over things,

running around, which is actually really difficult to do…

when you've got someone on your shoulders…

and you're running at full speed.

We're all fans of movies like Good Bad Ugly, James Bond movies,

all cowboy movies.

Forces put together, I will cover your weakness, you will cover my weakness.

It's the power of unity.

It looks great, it looks very brave and…

it looks fun also because two people are accomplishing one thing in a strange way.

That's how we made serious music,

Dosti theme music with the framework of a cowboy texture.

I had to make a rig in such a way with a counterbalance,

that the weight doesn't go on to the shoulder of the person who's carrying…

and also, there shouldn't be any gap in between the shoulder and the seat.

We've got a large team, about 15 or 16 foreign stunt people right now.

And at the same time,

we've also used a large team of the locals as well.

Between us, we're all working together to make the sequence action-packed.

He's a guy who is ten-foot tall, he has four hands and two legs,

he is no longer Ram and Bheem, it is one person,

Ram plus Bheem.

When you see them, they're just not two people anymore.

It's one whole gigantic body of two friends.

And from there, the way the sequence moves into the climax,

So, it's like a perfect take off for the whole last showdown of RRR.

Charan. Tarak.

The climax of the film should connect with the historical accuracy.

How Ram turns into Alluri Sitarama Raju.

Bheem giving the attire of Alluri Sitarama Raju

is a beautiful forest fire sequence where he appears in that attire.

Sitarama Raju is in that attire

and that was a very beautiful, I think, a phenomenal fictitious way of…

telling the audience that it was Bheem who gave Alluri Sitarama Raju his attire.

Getting into his character, getting into his attire…

I felt a sense of responsibility.

I was scared to do it, but obviously, we have such beautiful help from the team.

Most of the references we have were Alluri Sitarama Raju with a dhoti.

We gave this look with an open body and just a robe on his body.

Made Charan look more heroic, more handsome as well.

Everybody knows how he looks in the history.

Are we at least close to 70 percent is what my biggest question was.

But the confidence on sets Miss Valli, Rama, and Mr. Rajamouli gave…

helped me a lot to get into the skin of the character

without having any apprehensions.

The most iconic back-lit shot…

of revealing Alluri Sitarama Raju

with the fire at the end of the bow and lifting.

I had goosebumps.

I saw it as a third person. I didn't feel like it was me watching myself.

I watched like an audience.

That's what I felt like when I was watching it.

That is what movies do.

Though you've been a part of it. Though you did work on the movie for 200 days,

when you come and sit, you should be able to forget all of that

and see this as just any other movie,

like a child who is sent into a candy shop.

So, that moment for me

was the most special moment for me in my whole career as an actor.

Director always comes with this one iconic image.

I think action sequence designs based on that iconic image.

Senthil, he has used lights on the arrow.

That is where we can get the actual light.

We added fire on the arrow.

In the darkness, in the silhouette,

Alluri Sitarama Raju's burning fire arrow is shot like this.

We exaggerated so much, adding more fire, glow, and particles.

Even if it's surrealistic, it's fine…

because the background, that momentum and editing,

there's a lot of energy acting upon the shot.

So we thought even if you do a little bit surrealistic,

it will hold the bike's weight.

Sabu sir mentioned that in those days, when they are doing the war,

they have a heavy 50 kg bike where they can actually lift and take off.

I guess he maintained that kind of design.

Background action!

How Malli was taken away in the beginning…

for a creation that she did,

a tattoo on the lady Scott's hand, which made her take Malli away.

How Malli was encaged in the Scott's palace,

in a similar way, Lady Scott is entangled in the wire

and her blood drips on the same tattoo.

Our director on this is a craftsman.

He's so humble, so kind.

He directs you.

Some directors don't direct you, but he's very precise about what he wants.

And I like that.

I really enjoy working with someone like that.

I just listened to the music, the acting from the Indian actors, the passion.

In that moment, all came together and moved me so much to tears.

I just said to the director,

"I just want to thank you that I'm a part of this production."

Bheem made Ram into Alluri Sitarama Raju…

and Ram made Bheem into Komaram Bheem.

"Jal-Jungle-Jameen", which basically mean

the earth, the water, and the forest is ours.

So, in the story, I made Ram give the slogan to Bheem

and Bheem give the attire of Alluri Sitarama Raju to Ram.

Even though it's a happy ending at the end,

I also wanted the audience to go out in a celebratory mood.

That's the reason why we brought in the "Ethara Janda" song.

The song is all about paying tribute to the many freedom fighters

who chose revolution as a form of defying the oppressors

or inspiring the people.

And sometimes the leaders are revolutionaries at their heart,

even though they didn't pick up a gun.

In the song, I just wanted not Alluri and Komaram.

Here, the song is Tarak and Charan themselves…

paying tributes to many of the heroes.

We had to be grateful to them for their contribution to the freedom struggle.

Of course, we anticipated that RRR

would receive a good reception in India.

Especially, given the immense stardom of our lead actors.

And in general the hype, which the film had carried.

It obviously reflected in the numbers.

However, what truly surprised us was

the overwhelming response that came from the West.

Around September… end of September,

there was one show which was at the Chinese Theater in L.A.

It was a completely sold out screening.

And I thought, okay, maybe it was mostly the Indians who came

because they knew I was attending and they came to see me.

When I went into the theater, I was…

really stunned to see that 90 percent of the audience were Americans.

I-I-I didn't know whether I was watching the film in America…

or whether I was watching the film…

"First Day First Show" in my hometown, Hyderabad.

For "Naatu Naatu", I saw people just throng to the screen,

dance for "Naatu Naatu" there.

Of course, I could imagine the same reaction in India.

But in America, and at the Chinese Theater,

that was something phenomenal.

I was told, I don't know, I was told that Hollywood never witnessed fans.

American fans coming down the aisles, coming into the front,

and dancing as the song was playing on the screen.

That was something that was never ever witnessed before.

Then everyone started taking notice, okay, what is this Indian film?

What is this "Naatu Naatu"?

Why is everyone raving about it?

And it was like pushing us forward and forward.

Actually, it was the first time that all my friends had shown me the video

I felt really happy when they showed me the video.

Because, I get it if someone saw Michael Jackson,

got impressed, and wanted to dance with him.

When foreigners were doing my moves for the first time, I felt really happy.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Los Angeles.

Get the out of your seats and go crazy.

The Oscar campaign was something that I had absolutely no idea about.

Not just me, none of our team had any kind of idea.

But we were supported by some incredibly talented PR agencies.

So as we embarked on the Oscar campaign,

thousands of miles west from our country in the US…

something else was happening thousands of miles east in Japan.

The subtitle version of RRR released in Japan

and the love for the film is incredible, just incredible.

About two decades back, "Muthu" released in Japan

a Tamil film.

That is the highest grosser until then.

Our hope was that it should touch Muthu.

But it went on.

First week, second week, third week, fourth week.

It would eventually run for one year.

Even now, as I am speaking today,

it is one year since RRR released in Japan.

It is still playing in 18 theaters.

During this campaign, RRR has won many awards.

New York Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics,

Hollywood Film Critics,

Golden Globes.

We were attending many of them.

And…

during these times, I was meeting my favorite directors.

People whom I looked up to all through my childhood, my film career.

Incredible directors like Steven Spielberg, James Cameron.

I was meeting them.

I was starry-eyed, just looking at them.

Oh, my God!

And not just meeting them.

Uh, they had such great words to talk about the film.

RRR, the performances, the writing of the film,

the technical aspects of the film.

And…

I think I was literally flying in the clouds.

I had an incredible time.

Now, watching your characters…

it's just like such a feeling to watch them.

And your setup, fire, water, story.

Reveal after reveal.

And I think during the Golden Globes, when we won the award,

I think all of us believed…

that we were going to get the Oscars also.

So that gave us even more energy for us to drive harder, work harder.

Me, my son, Keeravani sir and Valli sat down.

We watched the full program together.

We watched all the nominated songs.

When we won Best Original Song,

when a Telugu song won,

we knew it was the wildest dreams of all time.

Alright! You guys are ready? Ooh!

RRR!

RRR!

I used to dance on the roads earlier.

For the first time, I got an opportunity to perform on the Oscars stage.

I was very happy.

When my team performed on the Oscars stage,

Steven Spielberg sir, Rihanna, everybody was there.

When I saw that, I felt very happy.

It never happened in my life.

This was the first time.

I want to thank Rajamouli sir because he took the song to that level.

Thank you so much, sir. Thank you.

My brother, on the Oscars stage,

sang the song "Top of the World",

changing the lyrics to express his feelings.

And that was like the talk of the Oscar awards.

♪ There was only one wish on my mind ♪

♪ So was Rajamouli's and my family's ♪

♪ RRR has to win the pride Of every Indian ♪

♪ And must put me On the top of the world ♪

Thank you, Karthikeya and Variance Films for making this possible.

Love you all. Thank you.

Next day there was a tweet of appreciation from Richard Carpenter,

appreciating my brother MM Keeravani and the film RRR.

Rolling!

♪ We're on the top of the world for your Winning creation ♪

♪ And we hope you know how proud you We are! ♪

♪ You're the best there is around And we hope you know it now ♪

♪ Your win puts us At the top of the world ♪

Congratulations!

And then my brother started crying.

Then he had tears in his eyes.

And for us, that felt like the completion of RRR.

More than the Oscar,

the most thrilling and…

the most thrilling and tear-jerking experience I had in the US…

was that Mr. Carpenter himself congratulated me with a…

with a song…

and with a video that was unforgettable.

I call it the best achievement in my life.

Knocking on the doors of every film industry across the world and saying,

this is Indian cinema.

I mean, we had some great, incredible films throughout history in India.

But this is the first time we are opening the doors to the world for them…

to see Indian cinema, to witness Indian cinema.

And I'm so happy, I'm so grateful, I'm so humbled…

that the door is RRR.

The door happened to be RRR.

When I imagine my stories on screen,

I imagine myself sitting in the theater in my hometown…

with a lot of audience around,

watch the film with the same kind of enthusiasm that I had as a kid.

Almost every time my films come out in a very simpler way.

There are no complications.

And they essentially cater to the kids.

Whether they're kids or the kids in the adults.

I, as a storyteller, am greatly inspired by

the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Let it be the characters, let it be the instances,

the wars or battles or the scenarios…

in which the confrontations between the characters happen,

Even the ambition of the characters, everything is larger than life.

RRR is a product of that.

The film RRR is a landmark for my banner.

Since they're like the Three Divine Creators, I think RRR fared well.

Nobody had a no,

but always just had a "ready, ready, ready", and that is RRR to me.

RRR to me, it's a God's gift.

Riveting Roller-coaster Ride.

RRR to me is Rise, Roar, and Roll.

That is Roll Camera.

I feel it is Rajamouli, Rajamouli, Rajamouli.

Everywhere I can see him, in every frame

which he controlled and made it happen.

RRR means Rajamouli, Result, and Recognition.

RRR to me is a "Naatu" experience for me. I'm so happy.

RRR for me is a very satisfying film.

RRR is nothing but "Redo, Redo, Redo" until you are satisfied.

RRR is my favorite because it is leading the way to RRR 2.

For me, RRR is a film that put India…

on the global map of films.

RRR for me is Rise, Rise, Rise of Indian cinema.

RRR for me is one more step closer…

to realizing my ultimate dream, Mahabharata.

I have some business with you.

You can't get away with it.

It's not going to work out.

Jakkanna!

Jakkanna!

Jakkanna!

It's over, right?

Full….

Hey, did you record that?

RRR 2.

Do you know when?

Does anybody know yet?

Because Rajamouli has not said anything to us yet.

Do you know that?

Seriously.

Did he announce it?

Did he? No?

Maybe.

I don't know.

But I'll be happy if it happens.