RRR director SS Rajamouli reacts to reports of him supporting BJP agenda

SS Rajamouli is currently on a career high basking on the success of RRR.Though the film won critical acclaim and achieved commercial success, there were criticisms with regards to the political agenda the story caters to. Many accused SS Rajamouli of supporting the BJP agenda. In a recent interview with The New Yorker, the filmmaker has reacted to the accusations.

The Baahubaali and RRR director, in an interview with The New Yorker, opened up about the accusations of him supporting the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) agenda.Explaining the ideas behind the stories of Baahubali and RRR, Rajamouli said, "First of all, everyone knows the Baahubali movies are fictional, so there is nothing for me to say about whether it is a distortion of history to portray historic characters to suit the present BJP’s agenda. As for RRR, this is not a documentary. This is not a historical lesson. It’s a fictional take on characters, which has been done many times in the past. We also just talked about Mayabazar  if RRR is a distortion of history, Mayabazar is a distortion of the historic epic. 

Addressing the accusations, Rajamouli added, "I’d also like to point out one more thing to people who accuse me of supporting the BJP or the BJP’s agenda: when we first released an early character design of Bheem, I showed him wearing a Muslim skullcap [to disguise himself]. After that, a BJP leader threatened to burn down theatres showing RRR, and said he would beat me in the road if we didn’t remove the cap. So people can decide for themselves whether I’m a BJP person or not."He concluded saying, "I hate extremism, whether it is the BJP, Muslim League, or whatever. I hate extreme people in any section of society. That is the simplest explanation that I can give." He added that no one had “ever approached me to make an agenda film, whatever the agenda is.” He said that “less prominent” people have “found objections” to his films for a few years now. “Sometimes Muslims have had objections, sometimes Hindus, sometimes different castes,” he told the publication. The director said that he wanted to “distance” himself “from either Hindu or pseudo-liberal propaganda.”