RRR

India, 2022, 185 minutes, Colour.

N.T. Rama Rao Jr, Ram Charan.

Directed by S.S. Rajamouli.

One of the most successful films from India, the largest budget to date, box office, acclaim, awards, international following, on

screens, Netflix. It is in the Teluga language.

RRR stands for: Rise, Roar, Revolt.

The film runs for over three hours and so audiences get their money’s worth! But, it is what goes on in those three hours that makes this an extraordinary spectacle. One might say, in the director’s mind and with the writer, there are no holds barred, there are no limits.

The setting is 1920, in fact the final decadence of the Raj but the British occupation still in strong force, arrogant British leadership, both governors and their wives, brutal British soldiers, and a number of the Indians themselves as part of the police and the army.

The basic plot introduces us to two central characters, Raju a member of the police force, demonstrating his loyalty in pursuing criminals for the British. The other is Bheem, a local leader, with a strong following, experiencing the arrogance of the governor’s wife, commandeering a young girl and taking her from her family to live in the governor’s mansion.

For a lot of the time, the two men are at odds but, eventually coming together, especially when they perform all kinds of acrobatics to save someone’s life on a bridge and a River. They become friends, but there are moments when they fall out, then become enemies again, arrests, torture…

Later in the film, we see more of Raju’s life in flashbacks, as a boy, an excellent shot, family deaths, the brutality of the British, and his plan to infiltrate, be more British than the British, but, ultimately, to lead a revolt against them.

In the background is Raj is girlfriend, families in villages, but in the foreground, often, huge demonstrating crowds challenging the police, the army and their guns. The romance for Being him is the attraction to a young English woman whom he helps in the market.

But, what makes the film different, is the action. The stunt work goes beyond what we usually expect, so many of the characters hurtling through the air, extraordinary fights, between individuals, army fights, battles spectacle all round. And, with the costumes, uniforms, all more than colourful.

And, there is more, always more, and often to the point of impossibility, the two men wounded so dramatically but finding little difficulty in engaging in heroic and spectacular action.

In the middle of the film, there is a musical interlude, and our two athletic heroes, taking some time off from their fighting, engaging in some very demanding and athletic dance routines. And, audiences will not be disappointed because they take up the routines with everybody joining in at the end of the film. And, in fact, the song, Naatu, Naatu, did win the Oscar for Best original Song, 2022.

This is a film to be watched, to be involved in, to be enjoyed – and not questioned about its action plausibility!