Growing influence spurs soft poweRRR

The Golden Globe nominations of S S Rajamouli‘s WOTT (way-over-the-top) Telugu epic action drama RRR is grand news for the Indian cinema industry as well as for India. Being chosen by the powerful Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to be in the list of five movies in the Best Picture Non-English Language category, and its hit tune ‘Naatu Naatu’ to be in the Best Original Song Motion Picture one, is big deal. But what is bigger deal is the growing interest in ‘things India’ across the world. This is significantly different from earlier versions of India that captured the global imagination. This time, the ‘India’ being lapped up is not through foreign, exoticising filters but straight off the kadhai, as it were. And this is directly related to India’s growing soft power.

Soft power is the currency that derives from rising prosperity and increasing influence. Without the latter, the former can only be a passing fad like batik prints on Carnaby Street shirts, and sitar runs in pop songs in the Swinging Sixties. The latest enthusiasm towards RRR and other Indian pop cultural events is a shift towards a more mainstream enthusiasm. There is a reason why American soft power is still so all-pervading, and why the island nation of Britain still punches well above its weight by dint of its residual ‘hard power’.

The nominations also point to ‘global’ awards (read: Western) like the Golden Globes and Oscars too finding it worth its reputational credentials to reach out to ‘discover’ quality works in other cultures – the South Korean 2020 Best Picture Oscar Parasite, for instance. It is no surprise that RRR has also hit the sweet spot in an evolving ‘global’ aesthetic at a time when India is G20 president. There will be more RRRs to come.