RRR (2022)

Critic No. 275

Director: SS Rajamouli

Written by: SS Rajamouli (screenplay), KV Vijayendra Prasad (Story), Sai Madhav Burra (Dialogue)

Produced by: DVV Entertainment 

Casts:  N.T.Rama Rao Jr, Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Shriya Saran, Samuthirakani

Music: M.M. Keervani

Language: Telugu

Genre: Action / Drama

SYNOPSIS: 

‘RRR’ is a fictional story about two Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (N.T.Rama Rao Jr), who fought against the British Raj and Nizam of Hyderabad respectively.

REVIEW:

SS Rajamouli managed to wow the audience in 2017 with the Bahubali series. It took him five long years for him to conceptualize his next film RRR, shoot and bring it to the silver screen for us to celebrate once again. It is another uphill task to have both superstars Jr NTR and Ram Charan in the lead roles as well that adds on to the sky rocket expectations. As I observed the progress of the film from day one through the promotions, I always wondered whether Rajamouli can also deliver a strong story once again on top of the mega work of technical finesse he always has. 

The film kicks off in 1920 when the British Raj has firmly embedded itself across India, and murmurs of revolution are starting to grow among the oppressed Indian populace. Ambitious police Officer A. Rama Raju and Gond tribal hero Komuram Bheem are two men on opposite sides of the law. When Bheem comes to Delhi in search of a little girl who’s been kidnapped by a British general and his wife to keep as a slave, Rama volunteers to hunt him down. Through an unlikely series of events, they wind up best friends, neither aware of the other’s true identity. When the truth comes out, new conflicts arise and their relationship takes some unexpected, and often violent, turns.

The biggest victory of the film is the depth of character writing for the 2 main leads. Bheem might have fought against the Nizams, so much so that one of them finds it imperative to warn the British that he’s not to be taken lightly. But he also finds shelter with Muslims in Delhi, hoping to steer through to find the poor girl who has been kept as a slave. Ramaraju might seem like a well-trained soldier who will follow instructions blindly but he also seems to have a past no one but his uncle (Samuthirakani) knows about. The entire design of the character’s motives and how it creates a strong tension with nail biting stakes are truly brilliant. 

In the world of Rajamouli, where solid story meets truly eye popping visual creativity, it definitely hits the spot again in RRR for filmgoers seeking an escape from the mundane. For audiences who are looking for a thoughtful, nuanced exploration of Indian colonial history will find themselves smacked in the face with some of the most insane action this side of the Fast & the Furious franchise. But who will actually come to watch this film with that mind set to begin with. So the ‘make believe’ factor that Rajamouli delivers with perfection continues in this film as well. Be it the tons of super detailed action sequences or the dance sequences, he keeps our heart pumping to his language of film. 

Both Ram Charan and Jr NTR are perfect in their roles giving their career peak performances. Essaying physically demanding roles, they are the live wire of the film who immerse us into the film with their striking emotional delivery. Unfortunately, none of the other actors have much scope in the film even though each of them contribute a slice to the long narration. Ajay Devgn fit the role very well and the way the flashback is cut into slices to emerge at the right time in the story is a great creative choice by the director and editor Sreekar Prasad. Alia Bhatt and Shriya Saran are wasted in wafer thin characters. 

Technically, there is no doubt that RRR is a winner in all aspects. Be it the grand visuals of cinematographer KK Senthil Kumar, nuanced work of the production designer Sabu Cyril, grand visual effects by Srinivas Mohan and larger than life stunts by Nick Powell, everything works hand in hand to bring the mammoth vision of Rajamouli to screen effectively. Watch out for the goosebumps evoking interval stunt sequence and the climax battle scene where Ramayana peeks into reiterate the theme.

The only problem I had with the film is the length and the way it chapterizes the entire Act 1 to make us understand the bigger picture. There are also a few logical gaps in the film during the initial portions where Komaram’s friend still doesn’t recognise Ram even though he is distributing his photo around the market for many weeks. The lack of or rather changing nature of the antagonist doesn’t create any major threat to the goals of the characters I feel and after a while, looking at the super human strength of the leads, no action of the antagonist really shakes the story. In Bahubali, the exaggerated stunts worked because of the fantasy mixed genre but here it feels slightly overdone. Alia Bhatt’s character is another force fitted role to make the Ramayana revelation at the end more complete. Both her performance and role is a pain to watch.

That said, ‘RRR’ is definitely another bright feather in Rajamouli’s cap of milestones and his tremendous effort to make a grand Indian film to be recognised throughout the world with an universal theme is commendable. 

VERDICT:

SS Rajamouli delivers another technically inclined epic mythological drama that carries forward a strong emotion of the Indian nation with spectacular visuals, exhilarating stunts and striking performances, that reiterates his stand as the most bankable filmmaker in India currently. 

CELLULOID METER- 4/5: