Modern Masters SS Rajamouli shows why Baahubali, RRR director is flagbearer of India's soft power in the West

Netflix dropped the trailer of a new documentary feature called Modern Masters: SS Rajamouli earlier on Monday (July 22). The docu is focused on the award-winning filmmaker, told from the perspective of those who have worked with him and admired his work. As I saw the usual suspects sing paeans to him (Jr NTR, Prabhas, Karan Johar et al), the trailer flipped the script with a shot of James Cameron talking about ‘our man’. The director of the most successful films in the history of cinema is paying tribute to an Indian filmmaker. If the RRR tsunami had left any doubt as to who is the face of India’s soft power in the West right now, this should settle the debate.

James Cameron and SS Rajamouli have a lot in common actually. Both began as independent filmmakers making commercial films. Both had a breakthrough film of a large scale in the commercial genre. For Cameron, that was Terminator 2: The Judgement Day, and for Rajamouli Magadheera. The commercial success of these films allowed them to flex their muscles and tell their story in the way they wanted to. The result was similar again – all-time blockbusters Titanic and Baahubali. They then went on to redefine their industry’s cinematic grammar with follow ups that – in many ways – outdid their greatest successes. Avatar out-earned Titanic, which was considered impossible by many. Back home, RRR got way more critical acclaim than Baahubali, no mean feat in itself.

But the similarity is for observers to see. For Cameron himself to align with it so strongly that he has participated in a film on the Indian maverick speaks volumes of Rajamouli’s influence and stature in the West. The rage that RRR was in the US following its release online, followed by its success in th awards season, made Rajamouli a mainstream name in Hollywood, if not a household one. James Cameron has simply put a $5 billion stamp of approval on that.

For years, many actors attempted to be mainstream in the West, ranging from Kabir Bedi and Naseeruddin Shah to Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai. The only one who truly managed it on his own terms was Irrfan Khan (and to some extent Priyanka Chopra). But the difference was that all these giants were known in the West for the work they did there, not back home. It is perhaps for the first time since Satyajit Ray that an Indian maker is being feted in the US for a film that he made for desi audiences and not for any film festivals overseas. It is, of course, too soon to club Rajamouli with the great Ray. The latter did it countless times and SSR will have to repeat the RRR success several times in order to even come close to him. But it is a step in the right direction.

For years, commercial Indian cinema has found it tough to find audiences outside the diaspora overseas. There have been exceptions like Monsoon Wedding, Lagaan, and The Lunchbox, but they have been few and far in between. But with RRR, SS Rajamouli galvanized the audiences like never before. So quite simply, he has become the face of Indian cinema’s soft power in the US, at least, and maybe in all of the West by large. This is as much a privilege as it is a responsibility.

The trailer of Modern Masters: SS Rajamouli started on an expected note before actually promising something new and different. Yes, it will talk about the genius of Rajamouli, the man who has given blockbusters like Baahubali and RRR, but it also has his frequent collaborators talk about the pains of working with that genius. If the execution is as intended and teased in the trailer, it could just be the kind of a balanced documentary film on a living icon that is rare in today’s sanitized PR-driven times.

Modern Masters: SS Rajamouli will premiere on Netflix on 2 August.

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