[Naatu Naatu/Naacho Naacho song]

Alison Stewart: Yes, that is the Oscar-nominated song Naatu Naatu from the film RRR (Rise Roar Revolt). It's from the Telugu-based film industry in South India, AKA Tollywood, and it's an action bromance featuring two men of nearly superhuman physical abilities living under British colonial rule in 1920s India. One of them, Bheem, has come to Delhi on a secret mission to rescue a young girl kidnapped by the British. Ram is a member of the Indian Imperial Police Force, a one man wrecking machine who has been tasked with capturing Bheem or so it seems.

They meet and become great friends, but when their true identities are revealed, they have to decide whether to fight each other or the colonizers who were tearing India apart. Film has incredible action sequences, delightful dancing, pumping music, and compelling performances from its two leads. One of them, Ram Charan, joins me now. Ram, so nice to meet you.

Ram Charan: Thank you for having me on your show.

Alison Stewart: Such a pleasure. Oh, this is me. I'm making noise. Hold on. Watch me do this. [audio breaks]. Hey, there's the mute button. Done and done. Sorry about that. I'm a radio professional. Your character is based on a real historical figure.

Ram Charan: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Who is he?

Ram Charan: He is somebody we listened to and read about him as a kid in the history books. My parents used to talk about him. This guy died fighting for the freedom against the British and the oppression at less than age of 30. These were young guys. I don't know. Today at 30 we were going around pubs and clubs and just finishing and getting a job, and these guys were fighting. I don't know where they get this power from. It was so delicate, and it was a lot of responsibility playing this guy, because I really don't want to make any mistake while playing him.

Alison Stewart: When you were doing your research into him, what was something from your research that you kept in mind as you were performing this part?

Ram Charan: I think the essence of his struggle and a sense of his character, the character arc was just taking the essence of the freedom fighter but nothing to do with anything part of the history. This is the new take. The director had his own take on the history of taking two individuals from the history and made a fictional story. It is a completely new story, so I had to just follow what my director had written.

Alison Stewart: Your character starts as someone who looks on paper like he's going to be a collaborator, at least, or on some level okay with the colonizers. He's an imperial police officer, but he's really using his position to [crosstalk]-- He really is using it. When you went into thinking about Rama, how did you approach both sides of his personality that we see? We have to see him as this imperial police force and then--

Ram Charan: Yes. I mean, the best part of my character was it had three shades. It's about this imperial cop, and it's about this friendship he had, and then the last guy who transformed into this revolutionary character and reveals himself completely who he is. The best part is they say the actor's job becomes so easy when it's written beautifully, 85% of your job is done, and all you have to do is read your lines and enact it and make sure you're connected.

I thank my writers, I thank my directors, but the challenging part was suppressing the feeling of the sadness of hitting our own people, going against them because it is for a bigger cause. That part of my work was a bit tough, but I enjoyed it. I think it challenged me. I somewhere felt very close to this character in real also.

Alison Stewart: It's interesting you use the word connection. You have to feel-- Your job partially is to have a connection.

Ram Charan: Absolutely.

Alison Stewart: What were you connecting with?

Ram Charan: I think internalization of this character in most of the scenes you see is something I also am very personally connected. I'm not a very extrovert. I'm not an introvert, but I'm not an extrovert as well. I internalize everything. I don't know every character, but this was very close to my heart. I don't keep everything to myself usually, but after this character, I felt, "Wow. It's good to keep things inside and not just blurt it out and create a ruckus."

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Sometimes a ruckus is okay though.

Ram Charan: Oh, yes. Maybe on a weekend.

Alison Stewart: Exactly. The action sequences are the thing that leave people with their mouths open and their eyes wide, but the real romance, this real friendship is really the heart of this movie. It really is what I think keeps you involved in the film.

Ram Charan: You're 100% right.

Alison Stewart: What did you think when you first read the script and you realized, "Wow. This is really also a film about friendship."

Ram Charan: Absolutely. I think it's been a while I've seen a movie on friendship. Tarak is a very old friend of mine in real, and we have hit it so beautifully on sets. It was like doing our scenes ourselves. When I backstabbed him, I thought I was backstabbing him in real, and I felt bad. I was crying. It was great comradery out and in inside the sets. The soul is the friendship. It is the friendship of these two legendary characters, what if they had met in the history? There was no record in the history that these two characters have met.

The director said, "As they both are fighting against the oppression, definitely when they are doing these guerrilla attacks in the wars, they would have met, they would have strategized together." That part was very, very interesting for me. It is about the brotherhood of these two legendary characters and what if they knew who they were.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Ram Charan. We're talking about Naatu Naatu, RRR. Naatu Naatu is a song, it's nominated for Best Song in the Oscars. The film is RRR. It's such an entertaining movie, and people go and see it over and over again. I think my producer has seen it, she says, 15 times. I've seen it twice.

Ram Charan: Oh, thank you.

Alison Stewart: Oh, of course. It's entertaining, but it's also the story of India being ruled by a British Empire, which is not necessarily something that you think about in big entertaining films. I'm curious, you as an artist, how do you think art and movies and entertaining movies can help illuminate historic conflicts or struggles?

Ram Charan: Yes, we do have a backdrop of the British imperial, but if you see, it was not projected as much. It was just as an antagonist at that time. The whole story is about the brotherhood. They had flavors of the oppression, the flavors of the struggle that we had, but the whole brotherhood took the front lead and it had shaped the script moreover. It took over the oppression part.

I think movies have a strong impact in every country, and in every country, there is a history that is unavoidable even after 300 years, 400 years. Yes, maybe, we are great with the Britishers now, we love-- I have a house in London. Still these are the things that people are not able to get over, and whenever you bring it up, it's like a national song coming up. People have-- they have hair raising.

Alison Stewart: Goosebumps.

Ram Charan: Yes, goosebumps. I don't know, but I think everything is great now. Also we should not forget the history.

Alison Stewart: Yes. If you know the history, then you can appreciate the evolution and you can I appreciate [crosstalk]--

Ram Charan: 100% right. Absolutely. You have to know the dark to appreciate the light, and the beautiful freedom all of us are enjoying because of these great freedom fighters. Thanks to such films, the youngsters, the kids after me, the generation after me should know the struggle of India, and it was not that easy. Somebody at the age of 26, 28 had that aggression and that zeal to have a conviction to gain freedom for the country and for his state and maybe for his city. That doesn't happen anymore. Maybe it's not required.

Alison Stewart: There are still some people in the States who are young activists who are going for it, trying to make the world a better place.

Ram Charan: [unintelligible 00:08:43] power to them.

Alison Stewart: Yes. There's so many intense action sequences. There's sequences where-- You are on the move the entire film. You were just non-stop motion. Physically, how did you prepare for the role so that you would be safe and that also so that you could accomplish it?

Ram Charan: I think to be casted in Mr. Rajamouli's movie, you have to be the best, look the best, sound the best, everything, otherwise I'm sure he's not going to cast you because he really loves his audience. He believes in the art, to give the best to the audience who are investing so much money in his film, to watch his movie, and he expects the same from us.

Even during the pandemic-- I was so happy-- The pandemic started. It was two months or one month, and then I get a call from my director. He's like, "Can you turn on the video?" I was like, "Yes." He's like, "Let me look at you. It's been so long." I'm like, "Thank you. It's so sweet of you that you want to see me." He's like, "No, I want to see if you're still in shape." I'm like, "What the hell? Give me a break. It's lockdown for nine months. You're not going to see me on sets." He's like, "No, Ram. Send me pictures every week." He kept a track, he spoke to the trainer, he kept us engaging, so he is very anal like that.

Alison Stewart: That's hilarious, that you're like, "Oh, what a nice man. He's making sure I'm fine."

Ram Charan: Yes, exactly.

Alison Stewart: "No, he's making sure I can still fit in my pants." That's so--

Ram Charan: Absolutely.

Alison Stewart: This dance sequence that everybody, even if you haven't seen the film, people have seen, it's gone viral. It starts with you and Bheem, are at the party, at this colonial mansion and being mocked by these British men for not knowing the classical dances. Bheem gets knocked down and then your character counters with this impromptu drum solo and just steals the thunder from the British party-goers. I'm going to play the music and then I want to ask you lots of questions about it.

Ram Charan: Sure. Absolutely. Thank you.

[Naacho Naacho song]

Alison Stewart: Ram, do you have formal dance training? Let's start there. Do you have formal dance training, like actual dance--

Ram Charan: As a kid, I was born in an Indian family, a film family. My dad was an actor for 45 years, and 154 films he's done. He always pushed me to dance, and it was so awkward in a birthday function or at my sister's some event. I'm like, "No." He told my cousin, "Please tell that guy if he wants to be an actor he needs to dance. It's the culture for films." The first time I ever danced was when the producer paid me on screen.

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Ram Charan: I had never danced in my life. I was very shy. I was always behind somebody standing and watching the show.

Alison Stewart: You are presented with the choreography for RRR?

Ram Charan: Absolutely. Maybe I was doing mind rehearsals.

Alison Stewart: Maybe? [laughs] How long did it take you to learn that sequence?

Ram Charan: We shot it in Ukraine, and we filmed it for over 17 days. Out of that, seven days was live rehearsals in front of the president's palace in Ukraine. We were 150 dancers and 300 crew, so 400 people were watching when we were dancing. It was like a mini concert happening live in Ukraine.

Alison Stewart: Actually, we spoke with your director S. S. Rajamouli over the summer. I had a nice conversation with him and discussed about filming in Kyiv in front of the president's residence. I spoke to him, and he said something really interesting. Let's listen.

S. S. Rajamouli: See, every country has its own kind of work culture. I worked with many outside countries before, but it had been very difficult for them to understand our work culture and mingle properly. It was always a kind of tension there, but landing in Ukraine, within a couple of days, the people there understood that we come from a different work culture, they adapted themselves to our style of working and really helped.

Alison Stewart: What is the Tollywood work culture that Mr. Rajamouli is discussing?

Ram Charan: I don't know if I'm going to get into trouble with this, but Tollywood work culture is a very spontaneous work culture. We think, we adapt, and usually, like studio format, everything is on paper. If you have to change, the board has to again approve it. No, here the director is the board. If there is something very creatively good, he can change everything and everybody has to adapt. Your whole script on the book can change. That's a very unique style only to India, I think.

Alison Stewart: It's knowing what you have to accomplish but also having room for improv if you need it.

Ram Charan: No, it's like the Indian roads. If you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere in the world. If you can shoot in India, you can shoot in any studio in the world.

Alison Stewart: For the dance sequence, what was the most challenging part to you? Aside from once you got the choreography down, what really was the thing that you think maybe even you had some professional growth from it?

Ram Charan: Absolutely, because it's not my style or my partner's style, it has to be the film style, the RRR style, which is a synchronization of both of us. Literally, the director used to freeze the frames and show us the angle of my hand if I'm doing that and why is the other guy doing this?

Alison Stewart: Wow.

Ram Charan: I'm like, "I'm not able to see him. I don't know what he is doing," but he said, "Fair enough, let's do another take," and it used to go on till 15 takes, 16 takes till we lost about four kilos just getting the synchronization, because at that point, if you see, it is not for dance for dance in the movie, but it was a reason why these both had to look a soul, two souls in one body. It had to look like that. Even if you separate them, they would be doing the same mirror work.

After that, you see how they are slowly able to rift away from each other. Their ideologies are different. Their goals are different. At that point, we wanted the audience to think they have one body but two souls. That part was the most difficult for me personally because I have my own style, and here, we have to put aside everything and bring in the RRR Rajamouli style.

Alison Stewart: The dance sequence, there's been so many tribute videos. What's one that you really like a lot?

Ram Charan: Wow. What I really like is in Japan, the students of Japan in one of the colleges, they had performed this on their annual day or something, and I was really honored that they chose an Indian song. It's not an Indo-Japan school. It was a proper Japanese school. They song found an Indian song and they did it. I feel special. This song means a lot. This movie meant a lot. It had transcended into many cultures. It reached out to many people across the world and it put a happy smile on many people's face. That is what Naatu Naatu is, something that put a good smile, happy smile on everyone.

Alison Stewart: We're discussing the film RRR with one of its stars Ram Charan. The film was originally recorded in Telugu but the version that's on Netflix is Hindi. There's some differences. People hear differences. Some people hear Naacho Naacho, some people hear Naatu Naatu. Do you know why the film was dubbed in Hindi for Netflix? Do you have thoughts about that?

Ram Charan: We have 28 states and many languages. The primary language in India, we have about five of them. You won't believe. Even if it's Hindi, it is my voice. I have dubbed in five languages, I know, all the five languages. The Telugu version is on another platform, on another OTT platform. It's called the Zee platform, Zee Cinema. For all your listeners, please watch the original and everything is original because all are my voice.

Alison Stewart: Wow. The song, Naatu Naatu, is up for Oscar for Best Original Song. It's coming in hot having won the Golden Globes. I believe it's going to be performed at the ceremony. Do you know?

Ram Charan: I don't know exactly, but I believe there is a surprise. I don't know if it's us, because we have not still got the invitation. Let me be frank. I'll never lie to you. I've got the invitation to go to the Oscars, not to go dance on the stage. Maybe they have professionals, maybe, I don't know. I'm not invited yet.

Alison Stewart: Excuse me. Hello, New York City, Los Angeles, we've got Berlin.People listen all around the world. I just want to make sure people understood that. Oh, I'm counting down the next hour.

Ram Charan: I'm going to be sitting there, but maybe I'll do an impromptu. Maybe they will not throw me off the stage.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: You're going to rush the stage for the performance?

[laughter]

Ram Charan: Do a quick move and say "sorry" and get down.

Alison Stewart: Well, I would be prepared to have a good camera face because if it is going to be performed you know that director is going to look straight for you in your seat.

Ram Charan: Absolutely. I can jump in. I don't have a problem. I can jump in for the hook step.

Alison Stewart: Gosh, when you think about the people who influenced you coming up, the people who helped you get to where you are today, who are those people? Who can we shout out?

Ram Charan: Number one is my dad because he is the reason-- We have eight actors in the family, we have three producers and three production houses as well. For all of us, he was this big umbrella, the big tree that shadowed us and we all grew under his umbrella. He was my one and only inspiration. Rest everybody, yes, now and then, that week, this month, whatever I see, whatever I here, everybody. As an actor, you are living your character in real also because you're grasping something from everybody and growing, but my dad is of course--

Alison Stewart: For many American audiences, RRR may be the first film that they've been introduced to, Telugu or Tollywood film.

Ram Charan: Absolutely.

Alison Stewart: What's the recommendation of one or two others people should check out?

Ram Charan: Please watch Bahubali, my director's previous mega hit. There's another movie on Amazon, my film, which is a sensational movie, I think it was one of my best performances as well. It's called Rangasthalam, R-A-N-G-S, Rangastha, T-H-A-L-A-M, something like that, Rangasthalam. It is fantastic. It is a very rooted Indian story. I play a semi-deaf guy, and it's beautiful. The drama around how the story unfolds to a deaf guy.

Alison Stewart: We've got films we can watch. Finally, on your Instagram, there is a very cute puppy often on your Instagram.

Ram Charan: Yes. That's my dog. It's Rhyme, it's poodle, rhyme and rhythm, Rhyme.

Alison Stewart: Rhyme is the star of your Instagram, by the way. [crosstalk]

Ram Charan: Yes. By the way, she has her own Instagram. They have 54,000 followers, she has; alwaysrhyme.

Alison Stewart: Ram Charan is the star of RRR. Thank you so much for your time today.

Ram Charan: Thank you so much, Alison. It was my pleasure talking to you.

[Naacho Naacho song]

 

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