Karthikeya, popularly known as Rajamouli's son, gained attention when Keeravani mentioned him during his speech at the Oscars. It has been reported that Karthikeya was responsible for overseeing the entire Oscar promotional campaign for RRR.
In Hollywood, it is common practice to sign up with media outlets at a price to generate publicity through screening shows, publishing news articles, and participating in TV interviews.
The RRR team reportedly spent months in the USA, much before receiving the Golden Globe Award, and spent around Rs 80 Cr on Oscar promotions. This is quite convincing considering the size of the global promotion.
Rajamouli should be applauded for achieving a feat that was previously unimaginable for Indian filmmakers. However, it is unknown who gave Karthikeya and RRR producer DVV Danayya the idea to suddenly claim that the Rs 80 Cr figure was false.
Karthikeya stated that only Rs 8.5 Cr was spent, which is hard to believe. Thank God they didn't say Rs 8.5 lakh in the process of bluffing.
Danayya should recall how much was spent on the pre-release publicity for RRR in India, which totaled Rs 50 Cr as the team went to places like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Cochin, and Chennai to promote the respective language versions.
In comparison, the pre-release publicity cost for SRK's "Happy New Year" was Rs 25 Cr way back in 2014, and the team went to Dubai to promote the movie. Many more films spent tens of crores on promotions.
There is no need for the RRR team to downsize themselves by claiming such a low figure for the Oscar promotions. It would be better to project the real amount spent. Karthikeya's claim is the biggest joke of the year and deserves an Oscar if there were a category for it!
Usha Chowdhary