Los Angeles Times

India turned its back on 'RRR.' Will Oscar voters embrace it?

Indian film director and screenwriter S. S. Rajamouli poses for pictures during the trailer launch of his Telugu-language period action drama film "RRR" in Mumbai, India, on Dec. 9, 2021.

LOS ANGELES — S.S. Rajamouli and I are up in the projection booth at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. It's the Friday night before Thanksgiving and Rajamouli's beloved action epic "RRR" is playing to a raucous, sold-out house. We'd been looking for a quiet place to talk, but if you've seen the movie, you know that "quiet" and "RRR" are contradictory in every possible sense.

The movie's almost over and we can hear the audience roaring their approval during a climactic battle sequence. Rajamouli has seen "RRR" with an audience dozens of times, but he never tires of hearing them respond to what

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