SS Rajamouli's RRR starts rolling; Junior NTR, Ram Charan to shoot fight sequences in first schedule

It's been nearly 680 days since ace filmmaker SS Rajamouli wrapped up the shooting of magnum-opus Baahubali: The Conclusion on 6 January, 2017. Now, he's back to wielding the megaphone for his next ambitious project RRR from Monday. The principal shooting for the multi-starrer, which features Junior NTR and Ram Charan as leads, has commenced in a huge set erected by national award-winning production designer Sabu Cyril in Aluminium factory near Kondapur, Hyderabad.

Officially confirming the news, Rajamouli took to his Twitter page to share a picture from the shooting spot with NTR and Ram Charan.

The project, which is reportedly being made on a whopping budget of Rs 300 crore, is bankrolled by producer DVV Danayya under his home banner DVV Entertainment. It's one of the most anticipated multi-starrers of Indian cinema to have begun shooting this year, with NTR and Ram Charan joining forces for the first time. We have learned from reliable sources that NTR and Ram Charan play brothers in the movie, whose title reportedly stands for 'Rama Raavana Rajyam' (RRR).

Both NTR and Ram Charan will have a new makeover for the film, which is said to be a 2019 release. While famous fitness trainer Lloyd Stevens, who was behind the rugged six-pack look sported by NTR in Aravindha Sametha, is working on NTR's new makeover, celebrity hair-stylist Aalim Hakim has been signed to take care of Ram Charan's new look.

RRR was launched with a formal pooja ceremony on 11 November amidst a galaxy of stars including Chiranjeevi, veteran filmmaker K Raghavendra Rao, Prabhas and Rana Daggubati to name a few. It was Mega Star who kickstarted the proceedings by holding the Muhurtham clap at the event.

Ram Charan, during his media interaction with Rangasthalam, confessed that he gave his nod to the film without even listening to the script. "I believe in Rajamouli. His stories have strong content and are character-driven. I’m yet to listen to the script. Rajamouli promised me he would narrate the script soon," Ram Charan had said. Junior NTR had also revealed that he agreed to the project without listening to the narration.

If Tollywood's two high-profile stars, who have delivered biggest super-hits in 2018 with Rangasthalam and Aravindha Sametha, give their consent to a project without listening to the story, it shows the hype and hoopla for a film headlined by SS Rajamouli, who put India on the global map with his boundary-busting Baahubali series of blockbusters.

The first schedule of RRR is expected to last for two weeks. Ram Charan has taken a brief break from director Boyapati Srinu's Vinaya Vidheya Rama, which is slated for Sankrati 2019 release in January, to complete this action-packed first schedule of RRR. High-octane combination fight sequences between NTR and Ram Charan will be shot in this schedule.

While names like Samantha, Keerthy Suresh, and Rashmika Mandanna are doing the rounds for lead heroine roles in RRR, Tollywood media is abuzz with reports that Boney Kapoor is sending feelers to Rajamouli to cast Janhvi Kapoor in the film to mark her south debut.

Rajamouli has retained his core Baahubali technical crew for RRR too. Writer Vijayendra Prasad. cinematographer KK Senthil Kumar and music composer MM Keeravani form the main technical crew of the film. While Rajamouli worked with Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao in Baahubali 1 & 2, he will collaborate with multiple national award-winning editor Sreekar Prasad for RRR. The dialogues for the film will be penned by Sai Madhav Burra and Madhan Karky.

Meanwhile, there are already reports that Rajamouli's next project with Mahesh Babu, which has been pending for a long time, will be a Telugu-Hindi bi-lingual. The film will be produced by KL Narayana and the project would mark the first-time collaboration between Rajamouli and Mahesh Babu, who is currently busy shooting for director Vamshi Paidipally's Maharshi.