A review of the Indian blockbuster “RRR”
This Indian-made Telegu-language movie is one of the craziest that I’ve ever seen but it is immensely entertaining.Let’s start with that enigmatic title which doesn’t appear on screen until 40 minutes into the story. The initials stand for different things in different languages used in India. In English, they mean Rise, Roar, Revolt. But that gives you no indication of the film’s subject matter.
It is a fictional imagining of how two real Indian revolutionaries, who never actually met, establish something of a bromance before taking on the might of the British Raj in 1920. The central characters are Alluri Sitarama Raju (played by Ram Charan Teja) and Komaram Bheem (played by N T Rama Rao Jr).
Separately and together, they exhibit almost superhero powers and bounce back from brutal punishment in their dealings with British colonial personnel who – with only one exception – are represented as unbelievably cruel, Nazi-like oppressors (one woman in particular is the personification of Lady Macbeth)
So politically this film is problematic in embodying an almost spiritual version of anti-colonialism and patriotism that will be welcome to the current Hindu-nationalist government.
But it delivers just over three hours of one fabulous and fantastic action sequence after another, leavened with humour, romance, dances and seven new songs. It presents a full palette of brashly colourful scenes from a terribly brutal public whipping of one of the heroes to a terrific dance competition set to the hit song “Naatu Naatu”.
Co-written and directed by S S Rajamouli, “RRR” is a special effects-heavy work that is the most expensive Indian film to date, but it has been so popular at home and abroad that it has easily recouped its investment.