Movie Review: RRR (2022) 

Normally on this blog, I review music. However, I am an avid consumer of multiple other forms of entertainment and have long wanted to feature some of them on this blog. Movies of any type are one of my favorite mediums of art, and when I find some words to write on the subject, you will surely hear from me.

Note: I will do my best to avoid any major spoilers, as I believe this movie is best experienced blind

Well, RRR was an Indian film released back in March, but it blew up in the west a few months later. This both surprised me, but with hindsight, it should have been expected. But before that, a little bit of backstory is required.

RRR is not a Bollywood movie. India is a nation of many languages and subcultures, and RRR is from the Telugu language's film industry; Tollywood. Since its inception, Tollywood and the other film industries were subservient to Bollywood, but that trend changed in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with the South Indian sister states' cinemas, including Tollywood, growing in popularity and acclaim to the point a small subset of the rest of India appreciated Tollywood and other Indian cinema, and director SS Rajamouli was one of the leaders for this charge with films like Maghadheera and Eega.

Coming to today, India's film industries have been more interconnected than ever before with multi-language films, often called Pan-Indian movies. This was caused by Rajamouli's Bahubali duology, a series of movies that changed Indian cinema. To this day, Bahubali 2 is the highest-grossing movie in India and has utterly entered India's pop culture. Bahubali united Indians in a way unlike any other in recent times. With his new film, RRR, Rajamouli has created another film that united India, and it still is the third-highest-grossing Indian movie.

RRR tells the tale of two Indian revolutionaries fighting the British Raj in the early 1900s, Komuram Bheema and Alluri Sitarama Raju, and imagines various fictional interactions between the two individuals who never interacted in real life. This would normally be an issue for my history-loving self, but RRR makes it clear that it is on the themes and the story, and historical realism is not a major concern. The film is told almost like a folk story, dramatic and large, but very personal at its core. This is a common theme in Rajamouli films, and it is great to see him work his magic as he always does.

While RRR may not be Rajamouli's best film overall, it is easily his best-directed film. The steady camera creates a solid look for the film, and Rajamouli took his love of colors and atmosphere to the next level, basing the entire film on a wonderful dissonance between fire and water. I occasionally wish he had been a little more subtle with the metaphor. But more than anything, I appreciate it being there.

RRR is also one of the most character-driven Rajamouli films. Rather than his earlier films, RRR has only two major characters (played by NTR Jr. and Ram Charan respectively), and they largely act as an amalgamation of various classic Rajamouli character tropes. Ram Charan's character is a little more important story-wise, but both actors have their wonderful moments.

There are so many small details that make RRR pop. From the A-Tier music (which I reviewed right here, and thus won't focus on for this review), to the callbacks and references to earlier parts of the film. That said, I feel the villains could have been a bigger threat. I am not complaining (like some have) about the British empire being portrayed as sadistic, which is mostly historically accurate, but rather that they don't hold much weight over the narrative. Rajamouli villains generally bare a significant bearing over the plot. Unfortunately, RRR's villain seems ineffective despite the brutal acts shown in the film. There is much missing potential here to show the genuine threat the British Raj was to the average Indian via these characters, but the film seems to hold back on the heaviest punches.

Nonetheless, RRR is great. It is wonderfully shot with some fantastic visual metaphors and strong character arcs. For anyone new to Indian cinema, this might be a fantastic starting point to enjoy the world of Tollywood.

Purchase the RRR soundtrack right here!

Image Source: IMDB