Hello pod, I'm Chris Hewitts and while the regular Empire podcast is on holiday for one more week, we're back next Friday, January 13th folks, which is unlucky for, well, everyone.

Here's a little bonus episode to tide you over. RRR, now streaming on Netflix, was one of the most critically acclaimed movies of last year and rightly so.

SS Raja Mouli's Action and Songpacked 3-Hour Epic, told the tale of the imagined friendship between two real-life Indian revolutionaries,

a Liri Sitarama Raja, played by Ram Chiran, and Kamaram Beam, played by Junior NTR. But that brief description of the plot won't prepare you, you're not ready for the incredible action sequences,

these two superhuman men come together to soar, leap, punch, and kick anything that moves. It will prepare you for the phenomenal musical sequences that pepper the movie.

It will prepare you for its harder-heading edges, nor the genuinely affecting friendship at its core, as a relationship between Ram and Beam, EBS and Flows, before the two come together, quite literally, with Ram on Beam's shoulders for the fiery climax.

It's a movie that was celebrated and embraced by Western audiences with some of the finest action directors on the planet, Praising Raja Mouli's Sure Touch and Handling of the Insanely OTT action scenes.

Now, considered one of the finest action directors on the planet, I jumped at the chance to interview Raja Mouli when he came to London late last year.

We talked about the film's incredible success, his working methods, some of its major plot twists and turns, and action sequences, and he was an absolute delight.

But needless to say, this is an interview that is pretty spoiler-rific. It also exists on our RR-Spoiter Special over at our Sporters Special subscription channel, which might give you a clue to how a spoiler-rific it is.

So, do not listen to this unless you have seen RR-R. There you go. That is my recommendation to you.

And now, without any further ado, here is my interview with S.S. Rajamouli. Do please enjoy.

We are delighted to be joined on this RR-R podcast, special by the film's director S.S. Rajamouli. How are you, sir?

I'm great. Thank you for having me.

Oh, no, it is an absolute pleasure to be here and talking about this rip-roaring ride of a film. I mean, it is absolutely incredible.

You're here in London. You've just told me that you're here at the tail end of four days of BAFTA Q&As, and just generally talking to people about the movie, and getting it out there into the awards conversation.

Is this aspect, is this beyond what you were hoping for with the movie? Imagine you knew it was going to be a big success, but the way it's broken out must be.

The film, getting the kind of reception it is having right now in the Western world, itself is something that I never ever expected.

So me, presently campaigning for BAFTA or Academy was something really out of my radar.

So I never ever imagined that I would do this.

Yeah, so once we started getting the precession for RRR from outside the Indians across the world,

initially we thought this might be the friends who came to the film along with the Indians. That must be the reason.

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