The war of supremacy over RRR between NTR Jr and Ramcharan has now gone West.In more ways than one. The game of one-upmanship between the two superstars is now out in the open, what with NTR refraining from attending the Hollywood Critics association awards.The excuse was the death of dear colleague from the Telugu film industry.
However well-informed sources in the Telugu film industry have another story to tell. “Even before the bereavement , NTR had decided to not attend any more awards events in the US before the Oscars.”
The battle for attention for their performances in RRR started when the film was released and Ramcharan got far more attention and appreciation in the Hindi belt. This preferential response miffed NTR. He blamed Rajamouli for this lopsided onscreen equation. Rajamouli tried to set the imbalance right by promoting NTR Jr as a potential best-actor nominee at the Oscars in the US.
If sources are to be believed, astronomical resources were spent in this campaign to project NTR Jr as the face of RRR. However nothing came of it. The film has got itself only one Oscar nomination for the song Naatu naatu.
In the meanwhile Ramcharan has begun his own self-promotional campaign in the US.
One wonders where that leaves the Ramcharan-NTR friendship