8 March 2023
Hyderabad

In one of his latest interactions in the US, actor Ram Charan, who not long ago was spotted in Ayyappa deeksha, reflected on the practice he’s been doing “for the past 15 years”. “It’s for 45 days and it’s a spiritual way of living in Hindu culture. We have a dress code, we don’t consume non-veg, we sleep on the floor, we don’t touch women and we take showers with ice-cold water. So basically there is no luxury or richness that comforts you. It’s very difficult but it’s also very rewarding mentally and physically,” he said in a latest podcast with Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso. “It’s a little beyond detox holiday, you have to do it personally to understand its results. Saints do it for years together. I personally think it’s for discipline. As an actor we are disturbed by so many things – parties and other things. This penance grounds us. When I’m doing it, there’s a lot of gratitude; there’s a lot of giving back to the world.”

Charan and his RRR team–SS Rajamouli, NTR Jr, MM Keeravani and K Senthil Kumar– are right now in the US to attend the 95th Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday. RRR is competing in the Best Original Song category at the award ceremony. To a question on what walking down the red carpet means to him and what are his expectations as his team is carrying the expectations of 1.4 billion people, Charan noted, “All the people I’m talking about, even they don’t know what this will do to the country. It has to happen on the 11th, 12th of March. You cannot comprehend the result of that day. It is sentimental and emotional for many, including my dad. Before taking the flight to the US, he asked me, ‘Do you know what is happening?’ In the 154 films he has done and the 42 years he has been working in the industry, he did come to the Oscars in the ‘80s as an invitee from India and that itself, he felt, was a big achievement then. But today we are nominated. We are waiting for that beautiful announcement, if it happens. This is huge. Dad told me the value of it. It’s like India winning an Olympic gold medal. I don’t run but I’ll know its value when my sportsperson with the Indian flag draped around his shoulders poses with that gold medal. Oscar is like a gold medal in the Olympics.”