Action cinema doesn’t get much better than ‘RRR’
S.S. Rajamouli’s film Really, Really Rocks, setting a new standard for blockbusters in the 2020s
My dear readers, I’ve done you a great disservice. I understand if you immediately throw away your faith in me as a critic, all the while sneering your nose at me in utter disgust when you pass me in the street. What terrible crime is it that I’ve committed? It’s that, only just now, have I seen S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR, an action-drama-musical-epic so impressive that its only flaw is that it wasn’t in my life soon enough.
Not only does RRR navigate all those previously mentioned genres with an unreal flow state that makes the film’s huge runtime sweep past you like the wind in everyone’s hair, it also tells a highly engaging and fiercely anti-colonial narrative anchored by a pair of knockout performances by N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan. Most impressively, Rajamouli knows exactly what to make his movie and when, all the while never losing the ecstasy he has for his own concept. Impossible amounts of sincerity leak out of every moment of RRR, a film that is truly proud to be itself.
In the era when the British occupied India, there were many who stood up to the colonial tyranny of the Empire. Two of these men were Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, both highly revered for their efforts but never acquainted (as far as we know). Inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s alternate history approach for Inglorious Basterds, Rajamouli asks — what if these two revolutionaries met?
It’s certainly not a historically accurate approach; Rajamouli has described the story of RRR as “an imaginary friendship between two real superheroes”, and he takes that concept to its most extreme. Raju (Charan) and Bheem (Rao Jr.) commit otherworldly acts in every other scene, their unbelievably shredded bodies glistening with bloody sweat and unapologetic machismo. But despite the extreme bouts of imagination on display, the relationship between Raju and Bheem is the foundation upon which the film stands. Both revolutionaries are highly different in their approach, their differences emphasised by visual association with fire and water respectively — as one of the many songs in RRR bellows, theirs is a friendship between an erupting volcano and a wild storm. Yet despite their mystic acts, never once does it feel like Raju and Bheem are unrelatable thanks to the strength of their motives and friendship.
It’s essential that these characters feel so believable when RRR takes place on a completely different level of reality to our own. It’s apparent from minute one Rajamouli is not interested in realism — that much is clear when in the first 20 minutes, Bheem brawls with a tiger and Raju takes on a riot single-handedly to arrest one guy, and wins. Yet the action is so inspired in every moment of RRR, the choreography so terrifically inventive, that I was spellbound by what Rajamouli achieves instantly.
From the unreal 'Naatu Naatu' dance sequence that is a microcosm of the film’s whole thesis on resistance to the mid-film climax that most action flicks would end on, RRR somehow manages to keep upping the ante as Raju and Bheem revolt against British colonialism. The Empire is rightly presented in an unashamedly truthful way as the oppressive colonists they were, meaning it never grows tiresome to see whimsical acts of violence happen to them.
But it’s also that anti-colonial edge that gives RRR that extra bite. The stakes, although fictionalised, draw on real history to add to the film’s dramatic flair. The men and the people around them truly suffer at the hands of the British, a key point repeated by British general Scott Buxton (played by a delightfully devilish Ray Stevenson) being that killing an Indian with a bullet isn’t even worth the price required to import it. Rajamouli doesn’t shy away from showcasing the awful colonial, racist attitudes of the time, meaning the change the two men fight for feels fiercely necessary.
It’s far from the only thing Rajamouli exceeds at depicting though. He knows how to make his two stars truly shine, making them look effortlessly cool in every scene. I cannot praise Charan and Rao Jr. enough for their roles either: a Herculean amount of work was necessary of both, requiring them to be in peak physical condition, undertake some insane stunts and dance HARD. Yet they both nail more than just the physicality; the two have an undeniable onscreen chemistry and sport vast ranges of emotion throughout RRR’s highs and… more highs. It’s a film where every aspect of it clicks; each directorial and audiovisual decision is made with clear purpose, imbuing the scene-to-scene experience with the film’s unique brand of cinematic poeticism.
I truly could continue to praise RRR for another thousand words, but in case you haven’t seen it, I’d like to keep some of the surprise. I’ve not discussed a thing that happens in the second half, nor have I been able to talk about many other performances except the lead pair. All of that is utterly exceptional, and Rajamouli’s understanding of the action spectacle puts so much of Western popular cinema to shame. In a world of endlessly recycled IP from American studios, RRR is proof that looking beyond that system is the best way to find something truly special.
So once again, I apologise — it is my negligence that has brought me to the hype train nearly a year after it departed. But now, I look to pay my penance by advocating for this film as hard as I can. Equal parts imaginative, hilarious and heartfelt, the universal acclaim for this film is the real deal: RRR is one of the best films 2022 has to offer, and an instant classic of at least five different genres. Rise, Roar, Revolt!
10/10
