LOS ANGELES — S.S. Rajamouli and I are up in the projection booth at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. It's the Friday night before Thanksgiving and Rajamouli's beloved action epic "RRR" is playing to a raucous, sold-out house. We'd been looking for a quiet place to talk, but if you've seen the movie, you know that "quiet" and "RRR" are contradictory in every possible sense.
The movie's almost over and we can hear the audience roaring their approval during a climactic battle sequence. Rajamouli has seen "RRR" with an audience dozens of times, but he never tires of hearing them respond to what he's put on screen.
"There's another big cheer coming," he tells me, smiling. "Coming ... wait for it ..." He holds up his hand, like a symphony conductor. When it arrives, Rajamouli bursts out laughing.
