Who does Rajamouli credit his emotions to?

The ace director’s films are also being remade in Hindi now and were earlier remade in other languages too. “Vikaramarkudu was made in five languages and was a hit in each of them. It feels great. I hope the same happens with Son of Sardar.”

So far Rajamouli has been working mostly with young stars like NTR Jr (with whom he has done maximum films - Student No. 1, Simhadri, Yamadonga), Prabhas (Chatrapathi), Nithin (Sye) Ram Charan (Magadheera), and a film each with Ravi Teja (Vikramarkudu) and Sunil (Maryada Ramanna). He had a role to play in directing Nagarjuna in the action sequences in his father’s directorial venture Rajanna. “I feel comfortable working with young stars. When I start working, I myself don’t know how I behave. The young stars understand. With senior actors, I have to be alert and watch myself.”

Rajamouli has a powerhouse of ideas in the form of his father, writer Vijayendra Prasad. “I credit the ideas to my dad and my emotions to Amar Chitra Katha. I would say it is India’s national treasure. Amar Chitra Katha tells you all about history, culture, folklore, gives you all the knowledge, tells you what emotion is... That’s what made me a story teller. I wanted to meet Uncle Pai and tell him what an inspiration he was, but sadly, I couldn’t
meet him.”

Rajamouli is one of the top directors of Telugu cinema today. How does it feel? “The achievement was when I became a director. Reaching this position doesn’t give me more satisfaction than actually becoming a director. This is not permanent. The fact that I became a director is permanent and gives me a lot of pride. At the end of the day, it’s a lot of hard work, but that’s the fun.”

The director is a great admirer of Ayn Rand’s books and philosophy. He likes playing tennis, volleyball, travelling and reading fiction.

Like most directors, Rajamouli also has a dream project. “My dream is to make the Mahabharata. It has to be a great film. Everyone should watch it with awe. It would probably be a trilogy. I would need another ten years of experience. There’s so much to learn before attempting a project of that scale,” he signs off on an unpretentious note.