‘RRR’ Review: Come Only For The Rajamouli Spectacle, Energy, Ram Charan And Jr. NTR. Writing And Logic Have An Even Smaller Role Than Alia Bhatt
I love a good Indian cinema song-dance-drama-action spectacle like the next person. I mean, Baahubali is, honest to God, one of my favourite films of all time. The real joy that erupts from watching a motion picture that does not need you to think, only feel, and find yourself flowing into that emotionally-charged stream without any control, no matter what any celebrated filmmaker says, is the human element of cinema. But yaar, I just wish our Indian filmmakers, excellent at scale and song, would just spend a little more time on storytelling. Combined, this SSS (scale, song, storytelling) would be such an unbeatable combination. The highly anticipated RRR, a Telugu period drama epic by visionary filmmaker SS Rajamouli, has the perfect blockbuster source code. It stars Ram Charan and Jr. NTR as leads, alongside Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Shriya Saran, Ray Stevenson, Alison Doody, Olivia Morris, and Samuthirakani. It delivers on several of its promises—it’s a true blue Rajamouli showcase, oozing grandeur, spectacular stunts that will take your breath away, and set pieces that leave you in awe. The magnetic leads, Ram Charan and Jr. NTR fill up the big screen with their charisma and muscles. And gosh, they had more chemistry with each other than their respective love interests. And the energy was infectious. But RRR seems to have forgotten the most important R—wRRRiting. In fact, the utter lack of it, and logic, make this an unintentional comedy that’ll make you crackle at the incredulity of it all.
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The story, set in 1920s pre-Independence India, is by K.V. Vijayendra Prasad, dialogue by Sai Madhav Burra, and screenplay by Rajamouli. The cinematography is by K.K. Senthil Kumar, editing by A. Sreekar Prasad and the music is by M.M. Keeravani.
RRR legit sets its premise like an ad executive would make a PPT, with fancy fonts and graphics et al. There’s a stoRRRy, which is about a tribal girl being taken away by a British General and his sadistic wife (who’d give Cruella a run for her money, methinks) because the latter loved her mehendi art. I mean, seriously woman, how much more hand painting you’re gonna want? But anyhoo, time for the next slide… erm… I mean character intro. Call him FiRRRe, because Ram Charan does have an introduction sequence that is fiery and fantastic and amps up the Jon Snow ‘Battle Of Bastards’ scene from Game Of Thrones Season 6 to a superficial level. But while in GoT, the scene attempted to humanise Jon Snow from the Chosen One that he was believed to be, the RRR scene sets Rama Raju up as this superhuman cop who can get anything done, even with injuries that would kill lesser mortals. But then again, that’s Indian cinema. Rama Raju is employed by the British Empire, and he is loyal to the point of folly. Of course, we know there’s going to be a traumatic backstory and a secret reason why he is willing to kill people of his own country for these goras, but more on that in the next few… erm… slides.
Then you have another dynamic introductory sequence, The WateRRR, Jr. NTR playing Komaram Bheem, a tribal who comes to Delhi, with a few of his people, to rescue the little girl taken from the Gonds by the evil goras. The man can roar and grunt and lift entire motorcycles to throw at people but goes incognito as a bumbling, gentle man, Akhtar, so he can gain entry into the General’s home and get the little girl out. These two men collide, and unbeknownst of their respective missions, build a friendship that is worth losing a life for. How this fire and water come together to defeat one annoying British General is what this film is about.
As for the other characters, really, they barely matter in the grand scheme of things. Yes, even the Alia Bhatt’s and Ajay Devgns, who have brief appearances to lend some star power to the film and a little push to the leads’ stories. In fact, for at least two of her early scenes, I thought Alia Bhatt’s Sita was a mute, because she barely said anything! She only existed to reveal Rama Raju’s backstory to the right people at the right time. The worst blow was dealt to Shriya Saran, but at least she had her wide eyes do the talking. For all the allegations against South Indian cinema about its sexist, after-thought treatment of its female characters, you’d think when they cast stars like Alia Bhatt, they’d write better roles for them. Unfortunately, they gave all the ‘lines’ to the British General’s wife, and even those were so cringe. We get it, Britishers colonised us and they are bad. But maybe you can show, not tell. And not so explicitly either?
No, see RRR is basically just a Ram Charan and Jr. NTR flex fest for 3 hours and 1 minute, with Rajamouli sir’s visuals pretty much on steroids.
RRR stands for Rise Roar Revolt but it should’ve instead been Rescue Rescue Rescue (or Load Aim Shoot, IYKYK)
The thing about this movie’s name is it makes you think that it’s gonna go big on the Revolt. Sadly, it doesn’t. It’s a very tiny, inconsequential rebellion that did not have any domino effect, or ignite some spark in the larger flame of India’s freedom movement. The pre-tricolour Vande Mataram flags existed just to remind you this is set in a certain era. RRR only goes big on the roaring bit. And I mean so big that when Bhima is on a secret rescue mission in the middle of the night, surrounded by British soldiers, he roars like a wounded lion while pulling off the prison bars with his bare hands instead of ‘sumdi mein’ getting the job done. Matlab zaruri the kya? This question is something I found myself asking every 5-10 minutes after the interval because some of the scenes of violence and dramatic flair were really unnecesaRRRy and could’ve been avoided because they didn’t even make sense. I know we are used to putting expectations of logic aside in masala Indian films, but just like Alia Bhatt’s completely unnecessary character, Sita, we cannot completely lose hope in the cause, can we? Our films will be rescued from this glaring folly someday.
Speaking of rescue, the entire movie is basically just people on one rescue mission after another, much like a repetitive rescue relay race. Okay that’s a mouthful. But it is a fact. There is one rescue mission in the first half and two rescue missions after the inteRRRval. But for me, only the first one really hit it out of the park. The shot of Jr. NTR emerging out of this cage with a menagerie, set against the backdrop of a palatial British General’s mansion that was lit up like a party from The Great Gatsby had the audience erupting in applause and hoots. The CGI for those animals is insanely good, I thought, and it made for a chaotic spectacle, but after a point, it all just really began challenging my intelligence. This worked in Baahubali because it had mythological themes and the lead characters were almost mythical heroes. It was believable if they pulled these stunts. But RRR is about regular men. Extraordinarily determined, but still real men in a very real era of history. And if these men, who were just minutes ago recovering from a fatal snake bite start punching the wall, or after losing a lot of blood from flogging manage to sing pitch perfectly for a crowd, then how do I keep buying it repeatedly?
Despite the exaggeration, RRR remains a hoot and can actually be comedic, if you have the right temperament for it
The exaggeRRRation really gets annoying after a point, especially that final action sequence where we see a certain deity incarnated and fighting off rifle-armed and trained soldiers with just a bow and arrow. The British General, played by Ray Stevenson, is portrayed like some K-serial vamp, with legit eyebrow raises. And there’s of course, that one gori mem, who loves poverty porn and has a heart of gold but won’t do the one thing to help the cause, that is set the tribal girl in her uncle’s captivity free. What’s just as baffling is Ram Charan’s character arc. Rama Raju’s backstory puts him at a very interesting crossroads but one minute he is this serious, no-nonsense, I-just-see-my-mission-and-nothing-else character, and the next he is singing ‘Dosti’ songs with a guy he just met? And one song is all it takes to make him abandon years of living with that one indoctrinated mission? Nahi yaar! Also, I might invite heavy trolling from one particular section of people here, but what really was the need to deify him in the end? The whole connection to a mythological epic that shall remain unnamed here is really elusive for me.
It’s all unbelievable, defies all sense, but irrespective of how devoid of logic and gravity-defying everything is, the applause and hoots are pretty much reflexive. The energy is so palpable, and the spectacle mounted by SS Rajamouli on screen is so incredible that you’re both applauding the genius setup and choreography of it while incredulously exclaiming, “What is even happening here?” Take, for example, a scene where the villain’s niece invites Bhima and Raju to a party in her honour, and her English suitor takes offence because she chooses a brown man to dance with over him. A desi dance-off ensues, and the offended British guy suddenly decides to join in, with the intention to win against the two Indians who insulted him. He loses, of course, but you cannot sit through it without wondering how one brain thought of all of this, and legit turned it into movie gold.
That being said, ‘Naatu Naatu’ is one of the best things about RRR, easily! I could bet some ₹₹₹ that people in single-screen theatres must be getting up and dancing, the energy is that infectious! And both Jr. NTR and Ram Charan throwdown like nobody’s business! When the song ended, we thought we’d just stepped out of a hyper-charged Zumba class!
The dialogues are classic chest-thumping machismo and national pride, and the spins put on a certain mythological epic are decent (Ram’s exile for his father’s honour, Bhim’s strength, flipping the narrative from rescuing Sita to rescuing Ram), even if they get too in-your-face in the end.
There are scenes that make you question why these characters are being like so daft, or how is something even possible. But if you, like me, love to find the humour in things, you could take the mickey out of the incredulous bits! Especially if you watch it in the Hindi dub. Sigh, not good.
Verdict
Come for the SS Rajamouli spectacle, and some crackling chemistry between its leads, Ram Charan and Jr. NTR. And maybe just to have an entertaining time full of incredulity with like-minded people who can join in on the fun. But everything else, like writing, character building, or logic, have an even tinier role than Alia Bhatt in RRR.
Baaki, nothing beats Baahubali, it is still BAE for me.
RRR is showing in theatRRRes near you.
PS: Okay I’m gonna stop adding RRR in eveRRRything.
PPS: Damn it.
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