 Testing, testing, testing, still have not fixed the mic stand. Testing, testing, testing. Somebody made a meme on Twitter, which I know you didn't see, but it was the black panther. And he said, does somebody get this man a mic stand? Because that was a line in, do you remember the line? Somebody get this man a shield? I think he was talking to the cap. And you say, does somebody get this man a shield? Riveting. So that was the joke. Hey, welcome back to our stupid reactions, Edith. I'm Captain America. There's somebody to get this man some pants or something. From Black Panther? It was Black Panther saying it. I don't know if it was in Black Panther specifically. But it was Black Panther saying it. Chadwick Boseman. For those who didn't know. Yeah, I didn't know. Oh, really? Yeah, it sounds amazing. Yeah, he is. Anyway, today we got a little kind of interview conversation between S.S. Rajamouli and the Russo brothers. Hey, that's cool. Who obviously directed many Marvel films, including Endgame and all those, and obviously the Gray Men that just came out with the news. And then S.S. Rajamouli directed one of the best action films ever. Ever in the history of the world. And the best buddy comedy of all time. That's, in my opinion, best buddy film of all time. Anyways, but yeah. I mean, you could argue there's some other ones like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Lethal Weapon, The Odd Couple. I don't remember seeing Bonnie and Clyde. Not too, not too in any of those. Exactly. Ig. Exactly. That alone. And that opening scene when they saved the kid in the train bridge, flying hands, Indian flag. It's glorious. So it'll be interesting to see this conversation between obviously the Russo brothers who obviously are very iconic with Hollywood films in terms of Marvel and what they were able to do. Obviously one of the biggest. Seen this guy a lot. Yeah, Raji, I think his name is Rajeev. I don't even know if he does reviews anymore. I don't even see his reviews coming up. But anyways, here we go. I think this is a historical moment of sorts. On the one hand, right here, seated here, are two arguably two of the most successful, the most successful filmmaker duo in Hollywood, Anthony and Joe Russo, the men that gave us two of the highest-grossing films of all time, Avengers Endgame and of course, Avengers Infinity War. And then joining us virtually from his home in Hyderabad is arguably the most successful filmmaker across India, Mr. S.S. Rajamolley, whose last two films, RRR and Bahubali 2 shattered box office records for Indian films worldwide. So forgive me for being very excited today. We're very excited as well, by the way. Raj, it's such a pleasure to meet you, we're huge fans. Okay, thank you, Joe. Thank you, Anthony. So nice to meet you. Lovely. Gentlemen, I thought I'd start by asking you. Lovely. What's your thought? Trick-telling stories that transcend boundaries. I feel like Hollywood has done that successfully over the years. Your films travel in just English-speaking boundaries. What is the trick to telling a story to a global audience? And is that something that weighs in when you're writing? I think it does weigh in for us anyway. What we tend to do is think about things at a global level. That sort of think about what kind of experiences that we're having on a global level and that people around the world are also sharing in. What kind of anxieties, what kind of excitements, those kinds of things. And it's a layer of the storytelling. It helps us connect into how people are feeling and thinking collectively on a global level as opposed to a more local level. We look for universal truths. And I think it is- Oh, wow, it's like Rick's said that one. Wow. To use storytelling as a binding element to bring people together. That's why we have a global perspective. We're very fortunate to have worked all over the world to talk to fan bases all over the world. So I think that over time, we've had a more sophisticated understanding of the way audiences think. And care about it. And forms our storytelling and the way that we construct stories. You know, Mr. Rajamali, I'd love for you to weigh in in your last two films in Bahubali and in RRR. You actually told stories that were intrinsically Indian stories. They're rooted in mythology. They're rooted in Indian history. And yet these were films that spoke to a much larger audience than typically Indian cinema tends to reach out to. What do you attribute that to? Yeah. Me, me, sir. A story, a good story is a good story for all the people across the globe, which is our country. Yes. But to take a story to cross the boundaries, for a story to cross boundaries, to cross cultures. There are many, many hurdles, but I think the principle hurdle is being, principally, if I don't believe that I have a good enough story that transcends boundaries, then there is no way I can make the other audiences believe that I have that story. So I think principally it is the belief. If we have that, the other hurdles can be crossed. So you don't tailor your stories to speak to a global audience specifically? No. See, basically, like I was saying, an emotion is the same, a human relationship between husband and wife, a father and son, two friends, whatever it is. It is the same as in America, as in India, as in Japan. You know, it is the same. It doesn't change. But how we tell that emotion changes, the nuances will change, but the core emotion remains the same. But the way, if I don't tell my story, the way I envision it, and I keep thinking about what others are going to envision, then I think I'm not doing a justice for both the people. Right. Well said. You know, what all three of you have in common is that you tend to dazzle us with the scale of your filmmaking. Clearly, you're not interested in small intimate stories. I wanna ask all of you, how do you ensure that the drama, the emotion, the humor, if you like, doesn't get weighed down by the spectacle? You have to track it through character, and I think that's something that Roger does very well. Yeah. Especially in our, this is a very profoundly emotional story. Character arcs and story, yeah. Spectacle is a backdrop, any vehicle by which that story is pulled, but at the center of it is a profoundly emotional story of brotherhood. And I think that's an essential, as he said a moment ago, that's essential mythology that can translate to any culture around the world. The same is true for the work we do as we try to find that essential theme that's important to us. Put the characters on that theme so that we have a spine, and then you build a spectacle around the goals of the characters. Great analogy. And if you're leading with spectacle, then you'll get lost. If you're leading with what the characters want, what their desires are, what they're trying to accomplish with the sacrifice of lives. You're listening to Game of Thrones? I think that is what we're looking for. You know, the spectacles... Toy Avengers is so good, yeah. That's emotional story rather than the reverse. Mr. Rajamalli, do you agree with that? Yes, a lot, but I have... Please don't put them and me on the same platform. They have had a mountain of success. I still have a small mound of success, so don't put us on the same platform. That's very sweet. I think, yes, I really agree with Joe on that aspect. And for me, I mean, it's a dazzling spectacle. We love to do that. I love to do that. But the base of it, there needs to be an emotion that drives. The emotion is the basement on which we can build this huge spectacle. If that emotional engagement is not there, then how much ever big spectacle you give the audiences will not be interested in. The other thing, of course, that you share in common is this love for action. Whether disguised as big superhero films or in the case of the gray man, a spy story, what you're doing is mounting these robust action films. It's true of you, Mr. Rajamalli, as well. Your action is clearly a genre you enjoy working in. Does action tend to travel wider than other genres? Yeah, it certainly does for me. I mean, there is a beautiful love story on one side and there is a medium kind of action film, both as an option, which I have to say, and first of all, for the action film. So it really, I am a huge action buff. So I tend to think the whole audience are like me. So yes, that is a big punch up for an action film. Yeah, yeah. Action is a universal language, you know? And it's about geography, choreography. It can be told without words. So I do think in a lot of ways that it's the most transcendent genre, the one that, the most universal genre, one that most everyone in the world can follow. And enjoys. We all understand action and movement. I think you've seen that over, you know, in the past decade or so, there's been a large movement in terms of a global audience, largely due to the internet and the connection we all have now through the internet and social media and the fact that we can communicate with one another about films together that's created more of a global audience and a global sensibility. And I think you've seen over the past decade, action films have become more popular and sort of things like comedy, some of the things that are specific to cultural sensitivity. Right, exactly. That's why we lose so much on the comedy side. At least in the Hollywood realm, they haven't sort of been as popular as they once were. And I think that speaks to the fact that action is a language that connects the global audience in a strong way. You know, I think that generally when it comes to action, it tends to be about masculinity. They're usually about the male characters that get to have all the fun, so to speak. I know that that's not, you have, of course, in the Avengers, for example, you've had some great female superheroes that have kicked ass, so to speak. And it's true of the gray man as well. You have Anadya Armas, who's excellent at doing her stunts. And Mr. Rajmoli, I know that in Bahubali, at least, you had Tamanna's character in the first film that was this rebel warrior, and she does get to do her fair share of action. But would either of you be interested in, would you be drawn ever, you think, to a female-led action film? That's absolutely good. The story's good. Makes no difference. It's a, let's take Anna's character, for instance, strong, independent, you know, not romantically linked to the lead character, has her own agenda, motivation, and in fact, continually saves Ryan Goddard. Tomb Raider was one of the first big action things for a long time in the 90s, right? Am I a crofter or what was it? She is, in a lot of ways, more competent than he is. So it was the Wonder Woman TV series of Linda Carter. It's true. More graphic. I don't know how much action was in that one. And making sure. Well, it was the 1970s action of the situation safely. We love strong, confident characters, irrespective of gender, but I think, you know, the world loves all stories, and no matter what story you tell, if you tell it well and you tell it truthfully, they're going to support it. And there's plenty of room for movies about strong female characters. Yeah, well, I would also say that it's our job as storytellers to bring new experiences to audiences. You know, that's, there's nothing better than we can do other than bring a version of a narrative to an audience that they haven't seen before. And certainly, you know, there's a lot of room to do innovative work with female characters because of the relative lack of, or the imbalance that's existed up to this point. Mr. Rajamali? I would really allow to do, not just in terms of action, but really strong female lead, leading the whole story. There are a couple of storylines that are running in my mind. We are discussing that. But like any film at the end of, I don't think too many films at a time, at the end of one film I just look at what are the exciting ideas that are around me. And because the most exciting one at that point of time, I go forward. If it's a hero film, it's a hero film, it's a hero film, it's a hero film. You don't overthink it then. No, you can't go in thinking, I've got to make a heroine film. He had a film that was a fly. Yeah. RRR, these of course, that's the ones in which Ega, that's so good. It crashes that celebration with that truck and he releases dozens of wild animals, including tigers, that wreak havoc. They're smiling, look at that, they're smiling. How do you come up with something like that? Yeah, I like some crazy ideas, definitely. And it also has a little bit of a work on his character. He's a tribal. Then as we are working it, we see what are- Yeah, it's an extension of him. Man being in the jungle, he will have lots of things to do with animals. Yeah, extension of his person. That kind of thinking, if he's going into a place which is not his strength, so obviously he will- Gorgeous salt and pepper hair there, says Rajmar. Absolutely agree. Animals can be a- Not so much here. That kind of thinking will lead me to that, but apart from that, I really, really like to surprise and awe the people to the maximum. Well, you do it well. You did it real well in RRR. I think certainly where the gray man is concerned- And once the fly came in an ego. That sequence, the city square in Prague, where, which is again a great idea because you've got a target- You've seen gray man yet? No, did you? No, not yet. And there's bullets and there's- Gosling wants to do an Indian film with the noosh now. They can't take him out. That'd be awesome. Yeah, he does. And he terminates in that extra- I hear it's- kind of- I want to be your shrink for a moment. Like nothing new, but it's fun. But it's fun, yeah. Can I link the kind of action that you do to the eight-year-old in you that just enjoyed blowing things up? Probably, perhaps. Although we were a bit more- We were a bit more academic when we were kids. We were sort of- You know, we weren't making movies. We weren't trying to make movies. We were more like just film geeks enjoying movies. But certainly we grew up with a bit of a- bit of a punk rock attitude toward the world. And I think that sort of tearing things up is sort of certainly appealing to us on some level. We're maximalist, semi-more entertaining access. You know, we love scale, like ambition. This was always meant to be a relentless action exercise. So, you know, with the sort of essential character elements pushing the film, but driven by action. Like the kind of movie that from frame one it doesn't let you go until it's over. Endgame should have gotten the best picture nomination. I'm really interested what's going to happen with the RRR with the Oscars. Me too. Because it's still going. People are still talking about it. Can I ask you the same question? Is the love for action linked to some sort of childhood fascination for blowing stuff up? I don't know. From child life, as young as I can remember, I loved action, whether it's in the comic books, or western films. Yeah, but most boys or male-leaning kinds of personalities, even in girls, really do love action. Fighting, blowing things up, sports. It's just in the DNA. I've always liked action. It's never been my favorite. Yeah, me too. Yeah. That's fine. They shot that within the space of five months they started in March and finished in July. That's, I think, yeah, that's pretty much what I think we're done in July. How can you do that? The trailer shows what kind of action that we are going to witness. In fact, one of the things that I hated with the interviews, I had to stop the filming between and come to this. I just started. I just started. The trailer, it was like so much of action and how could you do it in five months? Are you directly to separate units? Great, yeah, sometimes. Sometimes they bear. I was going to say absolutely they do more than two units. And then pickups can be done by somebody who's just their first AD. Yeah. And our second unit shot for 95 days. Yeah, second unit, 95 days filming. They're not even there. 40 days. So we do run multiple units because we have a big crew. And you go into post immediately now. It's not like put it in the can and then go into post. They film and go into post. You've got to get them out. That's why Black Panther 2 has a trailer out, but they're still filming. They got to get the post. And it is, you know, it's a military operation. Yeah. See the Marvel slash Disney people are under fire right now, though, because of what they do to their VFX people. Like they overwork. They do that not surprising. A crew that we need in order to pull this off in a way that it doesn't take a year and a half to shoot it. I think we also, you know, we've always spent a long time preparing. You know, we spend many, many months preparing as you may do. But because we were shooting this movie during the pandemic and we knew that once we got to production, things were going to be even more complicated than they normally are. And perhaps be more challenging than they normally are. I think we prepared even more thoroughly so that we could overcome the complications. So that might have been also a help in terms of accomplishing it. Great to know. But that must be one hell of a team that you have. They are. Mr. Rajmoli, while we're on the subject, I think you'll agree with me that Indian films often get, and I know that it's critics like myself who've done that as well, you'll see a great action scene. It'll say it's great by Indian standards. And there's always a comparison to the American 10-Pole films. I want to ask you is, do you feel like, and I do feel actually that RRR and Baal Bali have changed that narrative to some degree because they do really hold up on very high standards. But I want to ask you, is budget usually the only reason? That's a big reason. That the biggest so far best action. And time. Money and time. Look as big as they would, as maybe the American films that we see. No, budget is definitely a reason, but it's not the first reason. It is. I mean, if you have the intent of really going big, and you have, like they were saying, if you have a great team to support, those are the first principle things. You should have the intent. You should have a team. You should have a vision. And then comes the budget. And most of the time, if you have the first three, the budget will come in and support. Like the kind of action sequences that we did for a while when it was like the first is like in 150 crores, which is like peanuts for the kind of budget action that we did. Yeah. So you've made these big box office blockbusters for the studios. Why was Netflix the right home for the gray man? Well, look. Money. We got paid a lot. And I'm wanting to make it. They made us an offer we couldn't refuse. Construct the film that was extremely ambitious on an action level. And that was the experience for the lead characters and for the audience would be that of just running a gauntlet from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie. So I think the scope of it, you know, Netflix was in a period of great growth. And they were wanting to be very ambitious in terms of what they could accomplish as a studio. And they just wanted to support the film in the most strong way. And that's really why it felt right with Netflix. It just seemed to, the ambition of the movie seemed to line up with their appetite for what they wanted to do as a studio. I don't know when it was Greenlit, Dio. They'd been perfect partners. My bed, it was back a couple years ago when they were going insane. Probably, yeah, when they were just point. We want to do everything. Very strong, easy, successful partnership with them established. So once we knew that they had the appetite for a movie like this, that's where it all clicked. Mr. Rajamoli, I think it's fair to say that after a very successful theatrical run, RRR was practically sort of rediscovered when it streamed on Netflix. The American critics discovered it. It became this critics darling, a whole new audience sort of. Unfortunately, on Netflix, it's in Hindi. Very serious talk of Oscar potential. Were you surprised by that? The one on Netflix is in Hindi. The tension the film was getting after it began streaming. Yeah, there are two questions in your question. One thing is like, first of all, I'm actually angry with Netflix because they took only the Hindi version. Thank you. Yeah, you shouldn't be angry. You suck for doing that, Netflix. Yes, I was surprised. Good job calling him out there, I like it. Heck, yes. With the attention from the West. Like we were discussing before. That's awful. A good story is a good story for everyone, but I didn't think I could make films for Western sensibilities. I never believed myself. So when it came out on Netflix and the people started watching it. Critics started giving out a good reviews for that. Yes, I was really, really surprised. I can't believe Netflix did that. Yes, it wouldn't have been possible without Netflix for that I have. It's on Z5, but obviously that's not as it's available. No. Have you seen anything awful? Have you seen... It's awful. It's amazing, incredible. I hope you saw it in the original language. What's so amazing about it is the level of emotion that it evokes, it's combined with the perspective. I would say that we have found that one of the advantages of digital distribution we seem to be in a position where we're always defending an agnostic approach to filmmaking because we see value in all levels of distribution whether it be theatrical or digital, but digital has endorsed and allowed for more diversity than... What in the hell's diversity? And I would say in five years it's probably done more for diversity and access to diverse and international films than Hollywood has done in 50 years. I think that's critically important. I think that it's broken down barriers for, again, for people to, on a popular level, to watch films. It's really insulting. It's been a long time, I think, since I can't remember when, theatrically, it was a popular concept to watch films. They can still change it. I think there's a real value in that. I think when you're talking about our finding a... I'm pretty sure Zee has the rights to the Telugu, but I'm betting he's saying Netflix only wanted the Hindi version is my bet. A show like Squid Games would never have worked in any other format than through digital distribution. Agreed. And it became an international phenomenon. So I think audiences are getting a window now into true Indian cinema, true Korean... Not us. I've never watched an Indian film. What about you? Maybe one. Yeah. There's great stuff coming from all over the world. Yep. There is. Yes. All movies should be seen in a movie theater. And I think, you know, the way that... I won't speak for Rajah, but I will say that I know that the way that we think that the two-hour closed narrative is a well-tread narrative. It's a form that is very difficult to... That is not the Indian form. What's the gray man runtime? Do you know? Probably right under two hours, I bet. Under two hours because of the narrative. Yeah, because their Avenger films don't hit the two-hour narrative. Which are more interested in long-form stories. Exactly. It can be more surprising. Also, you know, it's just really an amount of time that the audience spends watching something. So you kill a character after they spent an hour watching a movie, it has a certain impact on them. They watch eight hours of a story and then you kill the character and it has an even more dramatic impact on them. So there is more potential in our mind for revolutionary storytelling in long form, which is why we encourage it and push it, which is what we all call universe-building. But for us, all that means is a longer narrative than just a two-hour closed story. And that's... Welcome to Indian cinema. We're most compelled... So is gray man gonna have a sequel? Sorry, Rajah, didn't mean to jump in, but I'd love to hear your point of view on this. Absolutely. I absolutely agree with you. Just add to that. See, every storyteller, when he narrates a story, he wants his story to be heard by a larger number of audience. And he will be very greedy in that aspect. He needs more and more audiences to listen to his story. And there is no way we can have that kind of reach without a digital distribution, Netflix being at the forefront of it without having those kind of partners. We can't even imagine. I mean, the kind of reception Arara is getting now. We can't even imagine without Netflix taking it to so many countries, so many varied cultures, so many people speaking different languages. But only in Hindi. Being said that, again, my first club is always cinema. That is where I discovered my love for storytelling. And there is a kind of fear in my heart that digital distribution might completely be given to cinema. That's the scare. I know it is not true. Eventually, they will settle down. There will be cinemas, there will be a kind of film viewing experience. Digital distribution will be a different kind. Television will be a different kind of viewing experience. I think three of them will coexist. But the scare and fear is there. I'll say this. I think about the Hindi version of Arara. I'm settling down at one point. I think Hindi is a great proof that the theatrical experience will always be a unique, a wholly unique version of film going. Agreed, yeah. Absolutely. The energy that you get within the movie theater nothing like it is just like nothing else that you can experience on your own or in a smaller home environment. And that's something that we sort of love as well. That sort of that collective experience when you're sitting in a theater together, you're feeling one another's energy and you can just, you go on the ride with a whole theater full of people. That's just, that's another experience altogether. You know, Mr. Rajamoli, I have to ask you the abiding love for the big screen movie and the big screen entertainment aside has just the experience that you've had with Arara since it dropped on Netflix? Has that sort of, is that tempting you in any way to perhaps do something straight for streaming? I mean, I have some of the ideas which I have been contemplating to take for streaming irrespective of the success of Arara. I mean, for a long time, for example, the Perthian segment which Mandarathum Sir is doing now, for a long time I had that in my mind to make it for streaming because that is the perfect way to tell that particular story. You can't tell that story easily in a film but if you have a, like if you have a web series kind of thing where it is like, now you can tell the story in eight hours or 10 hours or 15 hours or 20 hours. There are many stories that we have which a web series is a right platform like Jo was explaining a bit earlier. Yeah, I have few of the thoughts like that and that has got nothing to do with the success of Arara. I always had that thought. You know, I'm taking off from what Mr. Rajamoli said. I have to ask all of you. Can you talk about what cinema meant to you growing up? Was it a big influence and what were the films that changed your lives? Big, big, big influence, films. I mean, for me as a very young boy, there were films that I have watched particularly from Vijaya Production House, Maya Bazaar, Mr. Ma, those are the classics of Telugu cinema. They had a huge impact on me. A little later films like Ben Haar, I mean, even today I have said so many times. I think I don't use them so many times that I have watched it like hundreds of times. I mean, just the Charity Trace I would have watched and Charity Trace I would have watched a thousand times. And Bear Heart, I mean, Mel Gibson is my favorite, favorite. I get inspired so much from his near story telling. Me too. All his films had a big impact on me. Hates juice. Yeah, I mean, I can go on and on about the number of films that had. These are his words, not mine. There's audio. Yeah, I mean, we were very important to us when we were young. But so were music was very important. We were sort of into the arts in general. No, I've never seen Ben Haar. I've been into pop culture. Really? Yeah, you should. And my wife loves Ben Haar. It's a great movie. I should watch Ben Haar. Movies were central and we love them. Not the new one. We had a big appetite. We would watch sort of popcorn. Kirk Douglas. I mean, Charlton Heston. That all your friends and family were watching. And you can enjoy that together. But we were also into more obscure movies as well. Come back, Joe. We grew up near a shit-of-a-kind. It's probably been a long junket. In global cinema and global cinema. Long press tour. We got to do a lot of films that weren't sort of playing for the mainstream or playing widely. So, yeah, we had a, yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, while we would geek out on a lot of obscure stuff, we were very much into the French New Wave and Francois Truffaut and, but at the end of the day, it was those movies that everybody else was watching. It seemed to be the most fun and energizing because you could connect to other people through the movies. And so the bigger sort of Star Wars and Indiana Jones and the bigger sort of Hollywood commercial adventure films were big touchdowns for us as well. You know, I have to ask the film geek question. What do you like when you're on the set? Are you patient? Are you anxious? Depends on the day. We're going to go, what is the improvement like when you're on set? Do you yell at people like Christian Bale? Diligently, because we're a duo. So we have to collaborate. We have to talk through our process exhaustively before we get to set. But we have a crew, too, that we've worked with for many years that is part of that process now as well. So our development process is very indisciplined. I don't even know how that, I mean, I obviously grew up together, so they know each other work. But that just seems crazy to me, too. Who gets the final say? Away from their families. What if you both have strong opinions about? Is it a give and take? But we like to keep it very light. There's lots of jokes. And I've heard Quentin runs a wonderful set. Yeah, I've heard that people, a lot of feet, a lot of feet. But I've heard people love that his set ambiance is really fun and geared towards problems. Mr. Rajamali, what are you like? I so wish I could be like them. I mean, I'm very, very patient with the actors because I can't upset them. And because ultimately, the audiences are going to see their faces. Their faces have to be the way they should be. So I can't get upset with them. I feel very, very patient with them. But I blow my top off with the rest of them. It is frustrating. I want to end by asking all three of you what is the last thing that you saw that made you go, wow, I wish I'd made that? RRR. I just finished Stranger Things Season 4. And I thought that the scale, and again, this is what I want to get into a long conversation about, long form storytelling versus two hour closed. But the scale of it was as big as anything I've seen. It had an ensemble that I cared about, all the characters. And a villain that was frightening. And I thought that the Duffer Brothers had really ascended to the ranks of biggest filmmakers in the world with that season. And I'm just more compelled by that sort of robust storytelling. I also quite liked the boys season 3 for the same reason. You've seen any of that? I've seen the first three episodes. I loved it. I just haven't had time to. I have wanted to see that. The first three episodes were fucking hilarious. Yeah? Yeah. I'm more compelled by longer form pieces. In fact, I'm reminding myself. So in general, I think I just just want more to. I don't have time right now. I do, too. Movies now. You know, this isn't the latest thing, but it just popped into my head when you asked the question because it was such a resonant thing for me. I remember when we saw the original Iron Man movie, the first Iron Man movie for the first time. And I think we can forget about this a lot because there ended up being so many good films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But that original Iron Man movie, Mind Blowing, the way they combined spectacle and character and the way they inverted the approach to the superhero in that movie, it was just never seen anything like that before. And it seemed so tonally modern. I remember having that feeling of, wow, they got that. I wish we could have done that. For you, Mr. Rajmally? Not in the recent past, like Anthony was saying. One of the films was Bajrangi Bajjan. I saw, and I so wish I could have directed it if I had applied a little bit of mind. That's the salmon one? Yeah, I think so, yeah. With Nawaz? Yeah. I didn't, I regret that. And not a film, but I used to play a game called Prince of Persia. I was really addicted to that game 15 years back, something, something, 12, 15 years back. I really, really thought it would be very nice to make that character, write a story about that character and make it to a movie. I really thought that later Disney made it. Yeah, those two I wish I could have made it. Who knows, a reboot, maybe on the card, is it? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Rajmally. Thank you, Joe and Anthony. This was really every film geek's dream. Thank you so much. This was so enjoyable. Thank you very much, amazing questions. And Raja, such a pleasure, huge fan. Thank you. Thank you so much to me too, but we should catch up. We should really catch up with all you like to meet. We look forward to that. Thank you. And yeah, thank you for putting us together in this. And for all of you. Yeah, great idea. Thank you. Thank you. Great idea to have them all together. Endings are awkward. Yeah, so I looked. I'm talking about the Hindi Netflix thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they, the, when Zee and Disney Hotstar got, they got all versions. They got, it was made available. So Netflix had all the versions as well? They had the available, available to them. They had the original Telugu, dubbed, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi and, and Netflix just took Hindi. And I pretty sure I know why it doesn't say it in here, but I'm pretty sure I know why. Because they didn't want to split the numbers. It's the most watched Indian film of all time. They wanted one. So they could say that because Netflix needs their numbers to be up because their stock has been dropping and they want their investors to be happy. It was 100% only a decision. And this pisses me off because this isn't the first time you've ever heard of a director being mad at a distributor for doing things they don't want him to do. You should never, ever go against the wishes of the creator of the film just because you want to make money off the film. You wouldn't have the money if it wasn't for their film. And this should have been done. If they wanted a Hindi version, they, that's fine. But the primary version is Telugu in that language. And it's offensive to the Telugu people. It's offensive to him and his creation. And they did it because they cared more about money than they did art. And I get it in the boardroom. They're looking at those numbers, but if you're really gonna be about artistry, don't say it, do it with your fucking pocketbook. Yeah. And the fact that you had access to all of them, you could have just been like combined. Do it all and say the combined views are the most, but they couldn't. So it was an easier bullet point headline, the most watched Indian film of all time. Obviously we reviewed RRR with my film club and they all loved it. It was one of their favorite films and they're recommending it to everybody they know. It's one of those things that everybody's just so passionate about how good this film is. But the people that couldn't see it, I sent them, because I have a Z5 account anytime we have to watch a movie on Z5, I sent them our login info because I was like, I need you to watch it. And it's original language if you can't make it to the theater, please. And so I would send them that version. And somebody was like, how different is the one on Netflix? I don't know. It's dubbed. It's dubbed. And so it's gonna, I mean, the stuff not to not to is nacho nacho. So you're not even gonna hear the same songs really. Anyways. You're not even gonna be getting like any dubbed thing. You're not gonna be getting the nuances of things that are happening in the moment that are captured with live filming on the spot. And what's maddening about that is the majority of people that Netflix is going to get to watch that, who speak Hindi, also the majority of those people that speak Hindi also happen to speak English. So if they had simply put English subtitles on the Telugu version, we wouldn't have had an issue. It still would have been because the movie is great. It would have been the biggest watched movie, but they didn't want to gamble with that. They thought, well- They probably know their audience as well, but like they'd know which language. I promise you their Hindi movies get watched more than their Telugu ones. So what? Make a change. Maybe this would have been the first time you actually give the Telugu audience a bigger platform and start to raise them up rather than just cater to what you know works. Yeah, really disappointing. I mean, I've known that they've did it since it went to streaming, which is so maddening. But the fact that they had access to all of them. I would love to actually talk to SS Rajamuli. If anybody knows how to get in contact, I would love to be able to talk to them. 100% I think if- And the Russo brothers, if they'd be willing to come talk to us. If I feel like if like Ego was made today, that problem that we have the first 30 minutes would be, it wouldn't be as jarring because of when that movie was made. Yeah. The style that the acting was and all that kind of, because we even said it was, I did not like the movie for 30 minutes. Yeah, no. Once starts when the fly shows up. Once the fly came in, it became one of the most entertaining films we've ever seen. So, SS Rajamuli knows how to make an entertaining film. He sure does. And even though obviously we had issues with the Bahubali's that millions of people is one of the most watched ever of Indian film. So it's clearly we're just the odd people out there. The other thing he does that I want to applaud and I hope other filmmakers in India replicate is you heard him talking about one of the things that they contemplate for their film. The Russo Brothers talked about character and story, which is the heartbeat for us of anything. Not surprisingly, he pointed out emotion. But he doesn't cater to emotion. He gets you connected emotionally through his story and his characters. But he doesn't do what we often point out and go, please stop with the over the top cliche, ridiculous stuff where you're just trying to get our emotions and that's your primary goal. He's really good at getting you connected emotionally without placating to emotions. Yeah, absolutely. Really good interview. Really enjoyed it. Enjoyed it. Please let us know what you thought about the interview, what other interviews we can react to if you know SS Rajamuli or if SS Rajamuli you're watching. Please come on the channel. Love to talk to you man. And what should be the next SS Rajamuli film that we should watch? Please let us know down below.