Ram Charan dissects rumoured decades-long feud between his and Jr NTR’s families, admits they have ‘healthy competition’

Ram Charan said that one of the biggest reasons why he and Jr NTR did RRR was to turn the narrative around on the decades-long feud that their families have been rumoured to be a part of.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: January 15, 2023 09:37 AM IST

3 min read

Jr NTR and Ram Charan at the RRR success bash. (Photo: Varinder Chawla)

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Director SS Rajamouli said that one of his primary intentions behind making RRR was to bring two superstars together on the big screen. In a recent interview, he told late night talk show host Seth Myers that he summoned both Jr NTR and Ram Charan to his house to offer them the movie together, even before he had the story fully mapped out. And in a new interview, Charan said that it was a conscious move on his and Tarak’s part to do the film, because they wanted to turn the narrative around on the rumoured decades-long feud between their families.

While featuring on the long-running DP/30 series hosted by David Poland, Charan was asked about his equation with Tarak, and if there’s any feeling of competition there. He said, “A sense of brotherhood and camaraderie is there, but obviously, there is a healthy competition. I have seven actors in my family, and once the party is over, once the festival is over, even my cousins and I are competitive. Obviously, with NTR also, there is a sense of competition. Our families have been known as arch-rivals in the film industry for 20-30 years. His grandfather, and my father… It was like we were arch-rival families…”

Also read | Ram Charan reveals his wife was shocked when dad Chiranjeevi fat-shamed him at the dining table: ‘That’s derogatory’

Charan’s father is Chiranjeevi, and his uncle is Pawan Kalyan. He is the cousin of Allu Arjun, Varun Tej, Sai Dharam Tej, Allu Sirish, Niharika Konidela, and Panja Vaisshnav Tej. Jr NTR is the son of Nandamuri Harikrishna, and the grandson of NT Rama Rao.

Charan added, “This was the most intriguing part for people in India, that Rajamouli got these two buddies, who are from these families… We’ve known each other for 15-odd years. And there was so much negative press around the two families. There’s only one way to go, which is to make and create a better bond from there. It couldn’t get more negative for both the families, so we both decided to turn it around, because we were both hearing that.”

RRR, which made over Rs 1200 crore at the box office, became a cult phenomenon in the US after it debuted on Netflix. It has since emerged as a fan-favourite awards contender, with Charan, Tarak and Rajamouli at the centre of a carefully planned Oscar campaign. It recently won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, and Rajamouli won the New York Film Critics Circle honour for Best Director.

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