95th Academy Awards: How RRR can still make a splash at 2022 Oscars

Contrary to common belief, the Film Federation of India on Tuesday decided not to enter SS Rajamouli’s massive hit RRR in the Best International Feature Film category of the 95th Academy Awards. Chhello Show (Last Film Show), a semi-autobiographical Gujarati drama by Pan Nalin, was chosen as India’s official submission. Nevertheless, not all is lost, and it appears that RRR might still pull off a show at the Oscars.

RRR‘s Oscar campaign is far from over, according to Variance Films president Dylan Marchetti, who has been leading the charge for the movie in the United States. “I don’t think RRR is the best movie from India this year. It’s the best movie in the world this year. We’re going to conduct ourselves accordingly,” he said.

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The movie still has a chance to be nominated for Best Picture even though it cannot compete for the Best International Feature Film honour. Marchetti also noted that the movie also has a chance to be nominated for Best Original Song, Direction, Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Editing, and other awards.

Interestingly, Marchetti continued, even the key actors Ram Charan and Jr. NTR might have a chance to be nominated. “The only thing this news changes is one less award we can go after. There are dozen-plus others we can go for now. This film is the whole package.”

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The difficult task of keeping the movie at the forefront of debates amongst the stiff competition is what Marchetti is currently concentrating on. He stated that he preferred that Academy members watch the movie in theatres as opposed to only via the Academy Screening Portal. “Right now, our priority is encouraging voters to watch the movie on a wide screen the way Rajamouli intended. I do believe that this movie benefits from the energy that a crowd gives it, but it is fantastic anywhere you see it,” he added.

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Earlier this month, Rajamouli spoke to IndieWire during the Toronto International Film Festival about the Oscar campaign. “I have absolutely no idea about this process — I’ve never thought about it. I don’t know how the whole thing works. Obviously, for an Indian filmmaker, the Oscar is a very, very big deal. Everyone dreams about it. But only a few times have we had a chance to be nominated. Whatever has happened so far with this film has happened completely organically, and that has given us the encouragement to go further,” he said.