S S Karthikeya, line producer and son of director S S Rajamouli, recently set the record straight on the controversy surrounding the promotion of RRR ahead of the Oscars. In a recent interview, he clarified that the team spent Rs. 8.50 crore on promoting the film in the US, not the Rs. 80 crore claimed by filmmaker Thammareddy Bharadwaj.

Before the Oscars, there was a massive controversy following Thammareddy Bharadwaj’s allegation that “the team spent Rs. 80 crores” on promoting the film in the US. This led to criticism casting aspersions about the legitimacy of RRR’s Oscar campaign.

Karthikeya shot back at the critics saying, “We didn’t have a huge studio backing us like some of the other nominees in the race, so everything came out of our pocket. Our initial plan was to spend Rs. 5 crores to generate interest in the film. We divided the campaign into three phases and spent Rs. 2.5-3 crores just in the first phase.”

Karthikeya explained that the money went towards social media campaigns, email blasts, paper advertisements, and most importantly, screenings in New York and Los Angeles.

Karthikeya said, “We had two PR teams in New York and one in Los Angeles ensuring we were getting good press coverage. The second phase was the nominations, and though we thought we could wrap it up in under Rs. 6 crores, it cost us Rs. 8.5 cores in total.”

Clarifying that the team did buy tickets to the Oscars, Karthikeya said, “Mr NTR, Mr Ram Charan, Prem Rakshith, Kaala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj were invitees. Keeravaani babai and Chandrabose garu were the nominees. For the rest of us, the nominees had to write an email to the Academy, requesting them to let us attend. We bought tickets on the lower level for $1500 each and on top for $750 each.”

Karthikeya added, “RRR became so huge, it became a phenomenon. But thinking we could buy an Oscar is a joke, it’s a 95-year-old credible institution. You can’t buy the audience’s love or what Steven Spielberg or James Cameron said about the movie. They’ll say what they want to say. ”

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Ever since the team behind the film RRR (2022) returned from the Academy Awards, reports about them having spent Rs. 80 crore on the Oscars campaign have been doing the rounds. Addressing these in a recent interview, filmmaker S S Rajamouli’s son, producer SS Karthikeya, said, “An Oscar can’t be bought. People’s love can’t be bought.”

In a conversation with Galatta Plus, he explained that makers spend on a campaign to get their films noticed. But, the amount being reported wasn’t accurate. “We wanted to wrap up things in Rs. 5 crores. But we ended up spending Rs. 8.5 crores on the campaign. Special screenings were arranged in a couple of cities in the USA. We thought we needed more shows in New York, where we were lagging behind,” he said.

There were also reports about the team spending $2,500 to attend the Oscar ceremony. On how much was actually spent, Karthikeya clarified, “People like Ram Charan, Jr NTR (actors), Prem Rakshit (choreographer), Kaala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj (singers), MM Keeravani (composer) and Chandrabose (lyricist) were officially invited. Each of these nominees have a few seats that they can accommodate for people they’d like to bring. But, they have to send out a mail to the Academy and tell them who they’re bringing along. So, there are classes of seats and they have to be paid for. We paid around $1,500 per seat in the lower level and $750 per seat for the top level. That’s about it.”

RRR, which earned over Rs. 1,200 crores globally during its theatrical run, is the first Indian production to bag an Oscar for Best Original Song.