‘No pressure, only pleasure’, says 'RRR' co-writer KV Vijayendra Prasad

Three days since his Oscar win MM Keervaanirsquos atypical acceptance speech at Los Angelesrsquo Dolby Theatre still brings a smile to the faces of Indian fans His uncle KV Vijayendra Prasad however cuts a composed figure when discussing the musicianrsquos win at the biggest awards nightldquoWhen he was young I was the one who would take him around to producers and directors to make him a music director This victory is as much mine as it is his I am so proud of what he has achieved todayrdquo says Prasad who also penned the film RRR which bagged Keeravaani the Academy Award for Naatu naatuChandrabose and Keeravaani at the Oscars PicAFPHaving witnessed the nowglobal trackrsquos journey from when it was penned till it was filmed Prasad says he knew it had immense promise but never ldquoin my dreams thought it would win the Oscarrdquo ldquoOnly in the last few months did we begin to feel that we had a chancerdquo he says adding that when the news was announced he ldquothanked our Guruji for his blessingsrdquo and ldquoprayed for humility so that this win doesnrsquot go to our headsrdquoThe win has evidently reignited discussion about the filmrsquos sequel While team members Jr NTR Ram Charan and SS Rajamouli have all spoken about RRR 2 at Hollywood events it was as early as March 2022 that Prasad had told this paper that the script had sufficient fodder for the making of another edition At the time the team was revelling in the filmrsquos boxoffice success and Prasad had said that part two could ldquobe set outside IndiardquoKV Vijayendra PrasadIt was at the filmrsquos success party that the directorwriter duo knew that another edition was indeed warranted ldquoI had an idea that I shared with Rajamouli He liked it and now we will develop it Both the lead actors will return for the sequel and will play the same charactersrdquoWith the attention of international audiences on the film does he find the expectations attached with the next edition daunting ldquoI donrsquot live my life according to the expectations of others I approach every script with a fresh and unique perspective There is no pressure only pleasure in writing storiesrdquoAt the moment however he doesnrsquot intend to train his attention on the sequel Prasad has his hands full with other film commitments including Rajamoulirsquos next with Mahesh Babu ldquoMahesh Babursquos script is my only priority right now and nothing will steal my attention from it I donrsquot feel any pressure to complete RRR 2 though it is underwayrdquo he says of the actionadventure drama apparently based on reallife eventsAlso Read RRR Naatu Naatu choreographer Prem Rakshit has this to say about Oscar winAs though being part of two mammoth projects isnrsquot daunting enough Prasad 80 will also venture into direction in a matter of months In fact he has been restricting the writing offers coming his way to kick off his directorial venture Bhagwa Dhwaj by April 24 ldquoHowever nothing will be done until Mahesh Babursquos script is completedrdquoBhagwa Dhwaj is a bigbudget historical drama that will trace the genesis of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS He tells the story of the rightwing Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation which was founded in 1925 by Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar The Hindi film he says will be dubbed in several languages and dramatised for the big screen Even as we ask him when casting for the multistarrer will commence we already know the answer mdash ldquoAfter Mahesh Babursquos script is readyrdquo