In a year where we have The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick and indie darling Everything Everywhere All at Once, along with the usual slate of Marvel movies, RRR might be the most entertaining blockbuster of 2022 so far. S. S. Rajamouli’s big-budget Tollywood release is the perfect summer movie – maximalist, over-the-top, overproduced moviemaking turned up to 11.
RRR is the most expensive Indian film ever made, and a smashing success in India. It’s also become a hit here in America, partly due to the theatrical rerelease, but even more importantly its availability and staying power on Netflix. The movie held a spot on the Top 10 for nine consecutive weeks, which is a reminder that, whatever our other complaints may be, the accessibility that streaming services provide today makes a difference. Ironically for such a big streaming hit, RRR is a movie that would be even better enjoyed in theatres (imagine the moviegoing experience in India, where some audiences broke out in dance).
The movie itself is a mishmash of genres, at least for most western sensibilities: it is an action/historical/epic/musical/romance/comedy/drama/war movie that even introduces superhero/fantasy elements, telling a made-up story of Rama Raju and Komaram Bheem, who are two real-life Indian revolutionaries at the time of the British Raj. Raju and Bheem never met in real life, but the premise of the movie asks: what if they did meet and happened to form a legendary bromance?
If you’re a hater or just prefer neorealistic films, there’ll be a lot of nits to pick here. The comparisons I’ve heard to Michael Bay and Marvel movies are pretty understandable, and no one is comparing RRR to Seven Samurai. But as a pure popcorn flick, it is flat-out great, and has almost everything you could want, and more (including an all-time epic dance battle, the coolest goddamn piggyback ride you’ve ever seen, greek-chorus-like narrative songs, and what feels like a nitrous oxide induced meet-cute). Some of the action choreography is really, really good, with even some martial-arts esque wire work, and the end result is like a better (read: more original) version of Marvel action scenes, and there is just pretty impressive and cinematic visual stuff in general.
The emotional beats are bang on too, though they may seem melodramatic (with the many slow motion shots and intense lines of dialogue) from our cultural perspective, but RRR never loses sight of what it wants to be: an epic of grand proportions. By the time the title card appears we are 40 minutes into the movie and 100% bought in to the spectacle.
As expensive as the budget is (and some fake looking CGI animals aside), the movie works because of the outsized performances by the two barrel-and-hairy-chested leads, N.T. Rama Rao Jr. (as Bheem) and Ram Charan (as Raju). Both are magnetic presences who sell you completely on their distinct personalities, and if I had any minor quibbles with the casting it’s that Charan is so painfully handsome it’s almost distracting – I developed a huge mancrush on him during the course of the movie. They also make you realize how strange it is in Hollywood for all muscular men to be completely shaven of body hair #bodyhairdontcare.
Caution: do not be scared off by the 3 hour runtime – it absolutely flies by. The first half is basically a full movie already (and would be its own movie if it were a Hollywood production), but the length of the movie allows Rajamouli to add layers of character motivation and fun scenes that would have been sorely missed. The final act starts to look a little like a superhero movie, but if that’s the case, we need Bheem and Raju to join the Avengers ASAP. In the meantime, smash that play button on Netflix, break out the popcorn and your dancing shoes, and enjoy!
Now streaming on Netflix.
