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The Telugu language Indian action epic “RRR” (short for “Rise Roar Revolt”) has returned to US theaters for an exceptional one-night-only engagement on June 1st following its initial theatrical release. Some hindsight has made it easy to guess why writer/director S.S. Rajamouli has only now broken through to Western audiences with “RRR” despite his consistent box office success. Rajamouli’s latest is an anti-colonial fable and buddy drama about the imaginary combo of two real-life freedom fighters, Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) and Alluri Sitarama Raju ( Ram Charan ). “RRR” is also a fine showcase for Rajamouli’s characteristic focus on maximalist action choreography, overwhelming stuntwork and pyrotechnics, and sophisticated computer graphics.

By the time he made “RRR,” Rajamouli had already developed his brand of Nationalistic self-mythologizing with some help from recurring collaborators like regular story writer (and biological father) Vijayendra Prasad and both co-leads, who previously starred in Rajamouli’s “Yamadonga” and “Magadheera,” respectively.

Set in and around Delhi in 1920, “RRR” pointedly lacks historical context so that Rajamouli and his team can transform a straight-forward rescue mission into a rallying cry for reunification and also cathartic violence. Bheem, the avenging “shepherd” of the Adivasian Gond tribe, visits Delhi to track down Malli ( Twinkle Sharma ), an innocent pre-teen who’s kidnapped from her Gondian mother by the cartoonishly evil British Governor Scott ( Ray Stevenson ) and his sadistic wife Cathy ( Alison Doody ).

Raju, a peerless Colonial police officer, befriends Bheem without realizing that they’re at cross purposes: Bheem wants to break into Scott’s fortress-like quarters to rescue Maali while Raju wants to catch the unknown “tribal” that Scott’s lackey Edward ( Edward Sonnenblick ) fears might be lurking about. Raju and Bheem immediately bond after they save an unrelated child from being crushed by a runaway train, as clear a sign as any of Rajamouli’s love for Cecil B. DeMille-style melodrama. (“Ben Hur” is an acknowledged influence for Rajamouli, as are the action/period dramas of fellow DeMille-ian Mel Gibson ).

It’s also fitting that “RRR” is Rajamouli’s big breakthrough since it's inevitably about Bheem as an inspiring symbol of quasi-traditional, boundary-trampling patriotism. Rajamouli has gotten quite good at incorporating potentially alienating elements, like his cheap-seats love of grisly violence and brash sloganeering, into his propulsive, inventive, and visually assured fight scenes and dance numbers.

Rajamouli has also already perfected the way he works with and uses his actors as part of his shock-and-awe style of melodrama. Rama Rao is ideally cast as the naively sweet-natured Bheem, whose messianic qualities are also effectively high-lit in a handful of rousing set pieces, like when a bare-chested Bheem wrestles a tiger into submission. Rama Rao’s performance isn’t the main thing, but it is the emblematic inspiration that, along with a “Passion of the Christ”-worthy scourging, understandably leads an assembly of Indian nationals to attack Scott and his bloodthirsty hambone wife in a later scene.

Likewise, Charan’s steely-eyed performance in “RRR” is limited, but strong enough to be credibly superhuman. Rajamouli knows exactly how to capture his best sides, as in an astounding opening action scene where Raju descends into a rioting mob just to subdue and apprehend one particular dissident. Rao and Charan’s bro-mantic chemistry and syncopated physicality have already made a viral success of the movie’s splashy “Naatu Naatu” musical number, but that scene’s infectiously joyful presentation is supra-human by design.

The spirit of the individual matters more than any single person in Rajamouli’s movies and “RRR” is a perfect expression of that notion. It’s also a decent reflection of Rajamouli’s fame, which Film Companion South ’s Sagar Tetali keenly suggests is “the triumph of directorial ambition over the actor-star—the triumph of a brand of storytelling over the South Indian star image.”

With “RRR,” Rajamouli repeats his preference for one nation under populist ubermenschen. Both Bheem and Raju are extraordinary men because they are, at heart, aspirational expressions of the people’s will. Their lives, their loved ones, and their relationships are all of secondary importance—check out Bollywood star Ajay Devgn ’s explosive cameo!—so it makes sense that the cast’s images and performances are also blown up to James Cameron-sized proportions.

Like Cameron, Rajamouli has earned a reputation for pushing the limits of industrialized pop cinema. In that sense, “RRR” feels simultaneously personal and gargantuan in scope. Film Comment ’s R. Emmet Sweeney is right to caution viewers regarding the towering streak of “Hindu-centric” Nationalism and characterizations at the heart of Rajamouli’s “Pan-Indian address.” Sweeney is also right to hail Rajamouli’s dazzling “technical innovation.” It’s not every day that a new Indian movie—which are typically not advertised to Western viewers beyond indigenous language speakers, and therefore largely ignored by Western outlets—is presented as an event to American theatergoers. Attend or miss out.

Available in theaters tonight, June 1st, and also streaming on Netflix.

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in The New York Times , Vanity Fair , The Village Voice, and elsewhere.

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187 minutes

N.T. Rama Rao Jr. as Komaram Bheem

Ram Charan as Alluri Sitarama Raju

Alia Bhatt as Sita

Ajay Devgn as Venkata Rama Raju

Ray Stevenson as Scott Buxton

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S. S. Rajamouli

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Sreekar Prasad
M.M. Keeravaani

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If you haven't been back to the movies yet, indian epic 'rrr' is the reason to go.

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Ram Charan stars in RRR, an action-packed bromance set in India in the 1920s. Raftar Creations hide caption

Ram Charan stars in RRR, an action-packed bromance set in India in the 1920s.

If you're over the age of, say, 40, you will surely remember the 1975 cult phenomenon The Rocky Horror Picture Show . Weekend after weekend, year after year, decade after decade, audiences turned up at theaters — often dressed in corsets, fishnets and other costumes — to shriek out lines ahead of the characters and sing along with the songs.

I've never seen anything like it — until now. A few nights ago, I went to a packed screening of RRR , an epic action-picture bromance from India. The screening had 900 people — some of whom had already seen the film 10 times — clapping and dancing from the opening credits.

Made by box-office titan S.S. Rajamouli, RRR induces such unabashed giddiness in its audience that Hollywood is witnessing a push to get it nominated for the Oscars. Forget Best International Feature Film, folks are talking Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor. And having seen RRR twice myself, I'm part of the bandwagon.

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'rrr' is an interrrnational phenomenon.

Set during the British Raj in the 1920s, the movie tells the story of two heroes with impressive physiques and super-charged abilities. The tightly wound Ram — played by Ram Charan — works for the British as a crack military officer who we see quash a mass Indian uprising single-handed. His tiger-hunting counterpart, Bheem, played by N.T. Rama Rao, Jr., is a tribal villager who has come in disguise to Delhi to reclaim a young girl from his village who has been capriciously snatched by the evil wife of the evil British governor.

Ram and Bheem meet heroically while working in tandem to save a child from a train crashing into a river. Kindred in their bravery, they instantly become fast friends. But they don't know one important thing. While Bheem secretly opposes the governor, Ram is secretly working for him. They're bound for a head-on collision.

RRR — the title stands for Rise Roar Revolt — is populist filmmaking. Its emotions are simple, its anti-colonial politics broad. Rajamouli makes the British rulers of India even worse than they actually were, and they were mighty bad. But his mega-star lead actors play their roles with such ardent conviction that we don't merely believe in Ram and Bheem's friendship, we're moved by it. Rajamouli unfolds the many twists and turns of their story with such confidently rampaging energy that, by comparison, most Hollywood blockbusters feel anemic.

I'm normally bored by action sequences, but from the opening riot to the assault on the governor's mansion to the big prison escape — during which Ram rides atop Bheem's shoulders with guns ablazing — RRR contains more exciting action scenes than all the Marvel movies put together. Indeed, there's a slow-motion shot right before the intermission that is one of the most jaw dropping moments in the history of cinema. Just as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix offered American viewers a new vision of action, so RRR possesses a delirious inventiveness and originality that audiences will love. And I haven't even mentioned the marvelous "Naatu Naatu" song-and-dance sequence that recalls the dance-off between the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story , but is vastly more alive.

You can currently see RRR on Netflix, and it's a good enough movie that you'll enjoy it. But if you can — and I'd urge local theaters to bring it back — you should see it on a big screen. For two reasons. First, Rajamouli is in love with the sheer bigness that makes movies so much grander than TV. Bursting with fights, rescues, wild animals, surging crowds, sadistic monsters, larger-than-life showdowns and mythic transformations, RRR is not a movie that leaves you asking for more.

Indeed, in these days when the box-office is way down, movie chains are wobbling, and experts wonder whether the movies will even survive, RRR makes the case for returning to theaters. It reminds us that movies are always more thrilling when they're part of a collective experience, when you can share the excitement with the people around you. That excitement is electric when you watch RRR . You may well leave the theater humming the catchy tune, "Naatu Naatu."

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Intoxicatingly over the top, RRR pulls out all the stops to make the absolute most of its 187-minute runtime. Read critic reviews

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Top-notch singing and dancing combine with a terrific story to make RRR a three-hour feast of entertainment. Read audience reviews

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Rrr photos.

Freedom fighters Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju join forces against British colonialists in the 1920s.

Genre: Action, Drama

Original Language: Telugu

Director: S.S. Rajamouli

Producer: D.V.V. Danayya

Writer: S.S. Rajamouli , Sai Madhav Burra , Vijayendra Prasad

Release Date (Theaters): Mar 25, 2022 wide

Release Date (Streaming): May 22, 2022

Box Office (Gross USA): $596.5K

Runtime: 3h 7m

Distributor: Sarigama Cinemas

Production Co: DVV Entertainments

Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

N.T. Rama Rao Jr.

Komaram Bheem

Alluri Sitarama Raju

Ajay Devgan

Venkata Rama Raju

Shriya Saran

Samuthirakani

Venkateswarulu

Olivia Morris

Ray Stevenson

Scott Buxton

Alison Doody

Catherine Buxton

S.S. Rajamouli

Screenwriter

Sai Madhav Burra

D.V.V. Danayya

K.K. Senthil Kumar

Cinematographer

A. Sreekar Prasad

Film Editing

M. M. Keeravani

Original Music

Production Design

Nikolai Kirilov

Art Director

Rama Rajamouli

Costume Design

Vijayendra Prasad

Kaala Bhairava

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How the Indian Action Spectacular ‘RRR’ Became a Smash in America

The unusual decision to rerelease the film a few weeks after its initial run has drawn enthusiastic audiences even though it’s available on Netflix.

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By Simon Abrams

The Telugu-language Indian action spectacular “RRR,” or “Rise, Roar, Revolt,” was already a worldwide box office winner when it was released in March, grossing $65 million during its opening weekend. But it took an unusual second release for the period epic from the director S.S. Rajamouli to become a word-of-mouth smash across the United States. Now in its 10th week, it’s the rare Indian hit to catch on with American viewers outside the Indian diaspora, thanks to the unusual decision to relaunch the film weeks after it had already played across the country on 1,200 screens.

Set in Delhi during the early 1920s, “RRR” follows two patriotic but philosophically opposed men (Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) as they first clash with each other, then team up to rescue a kidnapped girl (Twinkle Sharma) from a pair of sadistic British colonial officials (Alison Doody and Ray Stevenson).

A Hindi-language version made for the Bollywood market has been available to Netflix subscribers since May and was among the service’s Top 10 most watched titles in America for nine consecutive weeks. But even with simultaneous streaming, the movie has now grossed $14 million at the American box office and played in 175 additional theaters across 34 states. By contrast, the Telugu-language crime drama “Pushpa: The Rise — Part 1,” the highest-earning Indian movie of last year, made only $1.32 million during its American release.

The president of the distributor Variance Films, Dylan Marchetti, estimates that most of the “RRR” ticket buyers had never before seen a production from Tollywood, the film industry that caters to audiences in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where Telugu is the main language.

The story of how “RRR” broke through in the U.S. involves a rare relaunch — sold to moviegoers as an “encoRRRe” — by Variance in conjunction with an independent consultant, Josh Hurtado, and Sarigama Cinemas, the movie’s original distributor.

Marchetti, who had previously booked contemporary Indian movies at the now-closed ImaginAsian theater in Manhattan, saw the film’s potential crossover appeal after repeatedly watching it with enthusiastic audiences in March. Hurtado, the main consultant at the independently run Potentate Films, also felt the movie had universal appeal. He had previously helped international film festivals program the South Indian hitmaker Rajamouli’s surreal 2012 action fantasy “Eega” (Telugu for “The Fly”). Together, the two contacted Sarigama Cinemas to collaborate on a one-night-only theatrical revival of “RRR.”

They hoped that the event would create what Marchetti called “new evangelists” who could widen the movie’s reach from a few hundred fans to tens of thousands across the country, with some help from social media and the hashtag #encoRRRe. The ticket sales for those June 1 screenings were so impressive that Marchetti and Hurtado soon expanded their encoRRRe plans.

The response was never a given. Most new Indian movies are not marketed to American viewers beyond those who speak the film’s language, and most such films are already screened at national chains like AMC and Cinemark. Many American programmers and exhibitors also still face significant financial pressure created by the pandemic. “Independent theaters are hurting right now,” Marchetti said, “some very badly.”

After some negotiations with Sarigama Cinemas, Hurtado and Marchetti spent a hectic month planning the rerelease. Some American programmers and exhibitors were sold on “RRR” just because of Hurtado and Marchetti’s pitch. Beth Barrett, for instance, screened the movie on June 1 at the Seattle International Film Festival Cinema Uptown .

“SIFF is known for always being up to try something new,” Barrett said. “And our audience is always up for an event screening, so we booked the screening based on Dylan’s enthusiasm and the trailer he sent over, plus his decades of amazingly eclectic audience-friendly taste.”

Gregory Laemmle, the president of the West Coast theater chain that bears his name, attended the Seattle screening after booking “RRR” at three of the Laemmle Theaters’ California locations. (“RRR” has since gone on to play at five Laemmle theaters.) Laemmle was already a believer, sight unseen, thanks partly to Marchetti’s recommendation and partly to enthusiastic social media responses from the initial release. Ticket sales at Laemmle theaters were high enough to warrant a weeklong engagement, which began June 3. “But after seeing the movie, I knew that I would need to clear space for that run to play” longer, Laemmle said.

Cristina Cacioppo programmed “RRR” at the Nitehawk Prospect Park in Brooklyn, where it drew enthusiastic moviegoers in the 20-to-30 age range, most from outside the Indian diaspora. “There was an overall wave of joy throughout,” Cacioppo said by email, adding later. “You could feel the room smiling, the jaws dropping.”

Jake Isgar at the Alamo Drafthouse chain said there were at least 10 rounds of spontaneous applause from a packed screening in San Francisco. “This movie is great on whatever-sized screen you watch, but it’s next-level in a full theater with a rabid audience,” he added.

Hurtado said that many encoRRRe attendees praise the film for the same reasons that had previously dissuaded them from watching new Indian movies: “long run times, song and dance numbers, and ridiculous action” he said. “People come out saying they wish that this three-hour movie were longer.”

Marchetti has also found that “RRR” has become a “gateway drug” for new Indian movie fans. Some film programmers, like Isgar, have been so inspired by the audience response that they’ve booked a few future screenings of new Indian movies, like the Hindi-language superhero fantasy “ Brahmastra Part One: Shiva ” as well as repertory titles like Rajamouli’s “Eega.”

Indian moviegoers already know about Rajamouli’s knack for maximalist action and imaginative set pieces, many of which are built around dynamic special effects and choreography. The musical number “Naatu Naatu” (Telugu for “Native Native”) from “RRR” has also become a viral hit thanks to Charan and Rama Rao’s playful syncopated dance moves and infectious singing. (Chandrabose wrote the lyrics while M.M. Keeravani composed the music.) Instagram playback singers Ankita and Antara Nandy’s loving re-enactment of the musical number has been viewed more than 130,000 times.

In a recent Zoom interview, Rajamouli recalled seeing Indian audiences cheer the “Naatu Naatu” scene on opening night but said he wasn’t sure how the scene would be received outside the country. “Indian filmmaking has some exclusive styles,” Rajamouli said. “Song and dance, for example. It can be very tacky, if used just for the sake of it. But can be very dramatic and compelling” if used strategically. Still, Rajamouli knew that “Naatu Naatu” would be a hit as soon as he cast Charan and Rama Rao, who both had worked with Rajamouli on earlier hits.

In hindsight, Rajamouli’s breakthrough with Western audiences seems almost inevitable after the recent global success of his two-part “Baahubali” historic epics from 2015 and 2017, the latter of which ultimately grossed an unprecedented $20 million in the United States. Rajamouli hopes to adapt a movie version of the Sanskrit epic poem “The Mahabharata” — with Telugu dialogue, because “I think in Telugu” — but not any time soon. “I have a long way to go before I feel I can take on such a project,” he said.

Meanwhile, Marchetti and Hurtado continue to arrange “RRR” screenings in the United States, including at theaters in West Virginia and Hawaii. Marchetti compared the American release of new Indian movies to a continuing celebration, with companies like Variance and Potentate Films helping pass out invitations. “The party may have started earlier and without you,” Marchetti said. “But it’s a good party, whether you show up or not, and you can still show up at any time.”

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‘rrr’ review: s.s. rajamouli’s glorious indian action spectacle.

This Telugu-language action-adventure epic, available on Netflix, has become a worldwide sensation.

By Frank Scheck

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“Delirious” is the word to describe S.S. Rajamouli’s Indian action-adventure film that has become a worldwide phenomenon both in theaters and on Netflix since its summer release.

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The Netflix Hit “RRR” Is a Political Screed, an Action Bonanza, and an Exhilarating Musical

By Richard Brody

A man and a tiger looking at each other while the lion roars and the man yells. They are covered in blood.

When it comes to cinematic propaganda, blatant is better than insidious. Overt advocacy has the virtue of candor and the vigor of fervent emotion. A movie such as “ Top Gun: Maverick ” hides its messages under the guise of unexceptionable realities, whereas another new, high-energy, political action spectacle, the Indian film “RRR” (which was released theatrically in March and is now streaming on Netflix, where it’s in the top five), makes its statements explicit. It thrusts its imaginative artistry thrillingly and gleefully to the fore.

“RRR”—the title stands for “Rise Roar Revolt”—turns history into legend by way of heightened visual rhetoric. It’s based very loosely on the real-life stories of two Indian revolutionaries of the early twentieth century, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, who contested the oppressions of British colonial power. There’s no record of their having met, let alone joining forces. The director, S. S. Rajamouli —who also wrote the screenplay, based on a story by V. Vijayendra Prasad (his father)—derives a magnificent outpouring of creative energy from the inspiring fantasy of their volatile connection. (The movie’s original language is Telugu; the version shown on Netflix is dubbed into Hindi.)

On a motor trip through the Indian countryside, Catherine Buxton (Alison Doody), the high-handed wife of the British colonial governor, buys an Indian girl named Malli (Twinkle Sharma) as one might buy a pet. The governor’s party carts the child away over the protests of her mother, Loki (Ahmareen Anjum), who is brutalized by British guards. Malli is from the Gond tribe, which is said to hold fast together, and its so-called shepherd, Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao, Jr.), a fierce warrior, heads to Delhi to find her, disguising himself as a Muslim mechanic named Akhtar. The British governor, Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson), is warned by an Indian police officer about the shepherd and his ferocity; Buxton orders his officers to find and capture the shepherd. One of his Indian police officers, Raju (Ram Charan), volunteers for the mission, planning to infiltrate the city’s revolutionary Indian circles. In Delhi, two Indian strangers see a boy drowning in the river and team up to rescue him; the two men, Raju and “Akhtar,” become fast friends. Raju is unaware that Akhtar is the warrior he’s looking for, and Akhtar is unaware that Raju works for the man whose household he aims to raid. The drama of their secrets, and the circuitous path of their ultimate collaboration (it’s no spoiler), involve scenes of moral and emotional horror that are redeemed in the high purpose of their historic mission.

The similarity in tone to other Indian action films is matched by what it shares with Hollywood blockbusters, too. The drama is built around action, stints on character, features very little dialogue that doesn’t advance the plot, and offers neither psychology nor history nor social context to enrich the historical framework. It’s a movie of shortcuts and elisions no less relentless than those of American superhero or superstar vehicles, but Rajamouli is an artist of a distinctive temperament and talent. He spotlights the halo of legend in an extended scene that introduces Raju, at a prison where Indian people are storming the gates to free a prisoner. There, Raju takes on the entire surging crowd by way of impossible acrobatics and eruptive martial artistry (highlighted by a madly rotating camera) that plays like a live-action cartoon. The element of fantasy is intensified by a sequence of Bheem’s rigorous self-imposed training, which involves single-handed battle with a wolf and a tiger.

There’s an overt element of exaggeration that bends the story into the substance and the tone of legend—the effect is of an onscreen tall tale. It’s a film of giddy, exhilarating hyperbole in which physical action pierces the barrier of impossibility but stops short of the supernatural or superheroic. And there’s a dashing graphic sense of composition and an assertively precise sense of rapid action that owes nothing to the generic jumble with which most Hollywood action scenes are filmed and edited. “RRR” is also filled with gore: streaming blood, spurting blood, bodies beaten and pierced and torn. Yet the combination of sharply determined political purpose and compositional artistry lends the horror an air of abstraction that stokes a sense of indignation or of justice without physical disgust or titillation.

The plot has twists and turns, hidden byways and surprising connections, that have the dazzle of magic tricks. The story’s omissions and truncations—an odd thing to refer to in a movie that runs to nearly three hours—contribute to the air of wonder and lend a jolt of astonishment to an extensive flashback that’s dropped in midway through. The drama is rooted in the absolute sadism, the monstrous and indeed genocidal racism of the British, the governmental terrorism with which Buxton reigns, the pathological bloodlust of power that Catherine flaunts, the dehumanizing prejudices of subordinate officers, and the vile politics of hiring indigenous people to do their dirty work. The story’s view of colonial despotism involves not only grievous economic inequality but also relentless political repression—and a sense of fear that’s nearly a sense of doom, signalled by the absolute ban on Indian people owning firearms and the tumult that results when even a single rifle falls into the hands of one of them.

For all its political determination, “RRR” is also a musical, and an electrifying one. The movie is filled with music and with characters singing at moments of grand political import; when Raju and Bheem manage to attend a high British social gathering, they convert a moment of cultural chauvinism into a spectacular dance-off. The frenetically athletic choreography involves gestures of a rapid-fire sculptural majesty to match the geometric flair of the images that capture it. Where the movie’s central dance is pugnaciously competitive, the fight scenes are dance-like, featuring moments of phantasmagorical splendor. One won’t soon forget the vision of a warrior carrying another on his back, with the one on top bearing two rifles and shooting them with deadly accuracy in opposite directions while the bearer breaks on the run through a brick wall. Or a runaway motorcycle being stopped with one foot as if it were a soccer ball, caught in midair, and hurled with the devastating force of a cannonball. Or a single flaming arrow igniting the entire countryside and yielding Wagnerian images of sublime destruction.

The drama of political unity that song lyrics characterize as “friendship between an erupting volcano and a wild storm” is also a flag-waving spectacle of patriotic pomp. The movie’s powerful sense of revolutionary virtue and collective purpose yields to nationalistic pride that’s danced and sung with uninhibited joy. The concluding production number, with militaristic bravado, spotlights the present-day purposes of this quasi-historical tale.

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Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Olivia Morris, N.T. Rama Rao Jr., and Ram Charan in RRR: Naatu Naatu (2021)

A fearless warrior on a perilous mission comes face to face with a steely cop serving British forces in this epic saga set in pre-independent India. A fearless warrior on a perilous mission comes face to face with a steely cop serving British forces in this epic saga set in pre-independent India. A fearless warrior on a perilous mission comes face to face with a steely cop serving British forces in this epic saga set in pre-independent India.

S.S. Rajamouli
Vijayendra Prasad
Sai Madhav Burra
N.T. Rama Rao Jr.
1.7K User reviews
125 Critic reviews
83 Metascore
83 wins & 150 nominations total

Komaram Bheem

Alluri Sitarama Raju
(as Ram Charan Teja)

Venkata Rama Raju

Scott Buxton

Catherine Buxton

Venkateswarulu

Venkat Avadhani

Young Alluri Sitarama Raju

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

Trivia Alluri Sita Ramaraju and Komaram Bheem were freedom fighters of India who didn't meet in real life. This film is completely fictitious and based on an idea of what if those two met.
Goofs Brazil, but not Belize, is marked as part of the British Empire in the large map on the meeting hall. Brazil was never a colony, protectorate or a client state of the UK, unlike Belize.

Komaram Bheem : Your friendship is more valuable than this life, brother. I'll die with pride.

Crazy credits The title doesn't appear on screen until 40 minutes into the movie.
Alternate versions The Hindi version released on Netflix has some changes made to it. The title card mentioning "Rise Roar Revolt" has been translated to English, the intermission has been removed, the ending song and end credits are played separately, and the overall film is presented in an open matte format, as opposed to the theatrical version.
Connections Featured in Vishal Mishra & Rahul Sipligunj: Naacho Naacho (2021)
Soundtracks Dosti (Telugu) Lyrics by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry Music by M.M. Keeravani Vocals by Hemachandra Vedala

User reviews 1.7K

Sep 16, 2022
How long is RRR? Powered by Alexa
March 25, 2022 (United States)
Official site (Japan)
Official Twitter
صعود ودوي وثورة
Ramoji Film city, Hyderabad, India (Film city)
DVV Entertainment
See more company credits at IMDbPro
₹3,500,000,000 (estimated)
$15,156,051
Mar 27, 2022
$166,611,197

Technical specs

Runtime 3 hours 7 minutes
Dolby Atmos
IMAX 6-Track

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RRR: a delirious epic of Tollywood mythmaking

Its antagonists may be pantomime caricatures and its heroes superhuman, but there’s no denying the exuberance coursing through the dilated veins of this spectacular historical epic.

14 December 2022

By Sam Wigley

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Sensible objections mount up while watching RRR , but Tollywood director S.S. Rajamouli has a gift for batting them away like few filmmakers working on this scale today. His maximalist, mythopoeic 182-minute tale of the tortured bromance between two alpha males embroiled in India’s fight for independence is certainly bloated and nationalistic. Its 1920s Raj-era British characters never rise above bland romance or boo-hiss caricatures. Playing one Governor Buxton and his wife, respectively, Marvel’s Ray Stevenson and Indiana Jones veteran Alison Doody relish such plummy sadism as “There’s hardly any blood. Hit him harder!”

But that casting callback to Spielberg’s event-movie heyday is your best clue to the storytelling confidence and showmanship with which Rajamouli unfurls this epic of nationhood. As with his two-film ancient-India saga Bahubali (2015/2017), RRR – ‘Rise! Roar! Revolt!’ – is a spectacle aimed at big rooms, a money-on-the-screen CGI -enabled action fantasy whose hyperreal violence is reminiscent of role-playing video games or the ‘heroic bloodshed’ mode of John Woo. When, in deep cover as an officer in the Indian Imperial Police, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) does solo battle against a vast crowd that’s gathered to protest Buxton’s casual abduction of a village girl, or when a ram-raiding truckload of wild beasts is unleashed as a Trojan horse of ferocious chaos at the governor’s ball, Rajamouli’s digital manipulations seem to bend space and time, while – crucially – still obeying their rules. As tigers leap and motorbikes are swung, the speed is modulated within the carnage of any given shot, slowing the heartbeat of the action before letting its pulse skip back to normal. It creates a hyper-presentness in the turmoil of the moment. Everything has a giddying digital elasticity.

In lockstep with this visual delirium, RRR ’s priapic mythmaking around its leonine male leads risks being too much. As Rajamouli imagines a fictional friendship between these two historical figures – Raju and the contemporaneous revolutionary leader Komaram Bheem – he also deifies them with extra-human abilities, including preternatural strength, even an apparent ability to breathe underwater. But in place of the grinding self-seriousness of the western superhero picture, RRR boasts a kind of Olympian exuberance running through both its action and its musical sequences. One song gives a knowing, Greek chorus-style comment on the budding friendship, while the hyperventilating ‘Naatu Naatu’ number – filmed at the Mariinskyi Palace in Ukraine mere months before the Russian invasion – sees the duo hypnotically out-dancing a gathering of British stuffed-shirts.

Rajamouli himself joins in the dancing in the closing sequence, just after the rubber stamp motif that full-stops all of his movies appears in the top right of the screen. “An S.S. Rajamouli film”, it certifies, and boy do we know it.

► RRR is available to stream on Netflix now.

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Wrestling tigers and hurling motorcycles: how SS Rajamouli’s RRR cast a spell over the world

The Indian director was as surprised as anyone that his astonishingly larger than life, logic-defying action film has found a huge global audience. So is Hollywood on the horizon?

L ooking at the box-office numbers when RRR first opened in the US in March, director SS Rajamouli couldn’t believe the film was really breaking through to non-Indian audiences. “We thought, OK, this might be [American] friends who the Indians had dragged along to see the movie,” he says. “But as the numbers started increasing, and appreciation started coming from celebrities, critics, influencers, gamers, from people of repute, I think it gradually dawned on us that this had the capacity to become much bigger than any other Indian film that has gone before.”

Everything about RRR – the story of two freedom fighters in British-ruled 1920s India – is larger than life. Not just because of the box-office numbers (it is currently the third-highest grossing film ever in India; Rajamouli’s 2017 action film Baahubali 2 is the highest), the budget (at $69m, India’s most expensive film ever) or the length of the shoot (320 days over three years, with Covid interruptions), but also the epic tenor of the movie’s action. Men wrestle tigers and hurl motorcycles, entire armies are single-handedly subdued, the dance scenes are supercharged. Stylised, CGI-heavy, logic-defying, yet ingeniously choreographed and meticulously composed, it feels like something fresh and invigorating, especially compared to Hollywood’s samey output.

“I see many films where action is not giving the impact that it is supposed to give,” says Rajamouli. “I see them doing fantastic action sequences, but for me, what is lacking is the emotional drive. Why is that action sequence happening?” Emotion and action go hand in hand for him, he says. In person he is gentle, calm and softly spoken; far from the model of macho masculinity of his films. “I just love the human body,” he says. “It’s a fantastic machine created by nature and it can do so many wonderful things.”

Rajamouli works in a collaborative way, but when it comes to getting what he wants, he can be a bit of a dictator, he admits. “All through the production, I constantly worry about whether I’m getting certain images on to the screen in the right way, in the perfect way, where I’m able to communicate my emotions to the audience the way I’m feeling it. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to get it right.”

Director SS Rajamouli on the set of RRR.

In one astonishing scene, for example, our hero Bheem (NT Rama Rao Jr) ambushes a British party by smashing a truck through the palace gates and leaping out of the back accompanied by a menagerie of angry tigers, stags and other wild beasts. It took 45 nights to film, Rajamouli explains, with 2,000 extras, including children, in period costume, plus fighters, stuntmen, fire, water. The animals were all CGI, but that added extra difficulties since actors had to react to things that were not there. Just one shot from that scene, where Bheem is framed by a broken fountain whose dancing hoses spray water like snakes, took his art department 10 days to work out.

Film-making seems an obvious career path for Rajamouli in retrospect. He grew up devouring movies, western as well as Indian – not least action epics such as Gladiator, Braveheart and Ben-Hur (he has watched the chariot race “hundreds of times”). And he was part of an extended family that entered into the movie industry in Chennai. It wasn’t quite so straightforward, though: “I was a good for nothing boy in the family,” he says. “My father used to constantly ask me, ‘What do you want to do with your life?’ I absolutely had no idea. And because all of the family was into film, I said, ‘I’ll become a director.’ I had no idea what a director does.”

He started as a junior assistant editor. “My first job was just putting labels on the cans. I was not even allowed to touch the film.” But he would listen to the conversations of the film-makers when they took a break outside the editing room. By 2001 he was directing his first movie, Student No 1 – and the scale and success of his work has been increasing ever since.

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RRR’s anti-colonial narrative and somewhat cartoonish depiction of the British as sadistic, moustache-twirling villains has raised some objections, but Rajamouli has no axe to grind, he insists: “There is no historical accuracy. At the beginning of the film we have a big disclaimer saying: ‘This is a completely fictional story.’ If you’re saying that the British are portrayed as villains, I would say the villains who are portrayed in the film happen to be British.”

He is similarly balanced when it comes to Britain’s legacy in India. “It is stupid to expect all the officers were gods or benevolent people but at the same time, it is also stupid to think all of them were monsters out to torture and kill people.” He cites the East India Company official CP Brown, who, in the 19th century, created the first Telugu-language dictionary. “He literally saved my language from extinction,” says Rajamouli. “In many libraries, you’ll see statues of CP Brown; we worship him like a god.”

With awards season upon us, Rajamouli is still on the RRR rollercoaster. In the US he has brushed shoulders with his Hollywood heroes, such as JJ Abrams, Peter Weir and Michael J Fox. “I’m quite a shy person. I just stand at the back.” Inevitably the question of working in the US has arisen, and he doesn’t rule it out: “There are many, many things that I can learn from Hollywood, its efficiency, its lean working mechanism. We are trying to figure out a way I can collaborate.”

Whether he likes it or not, Rajamouli is now a global film-maker rather than simply an Indian one, but he’s trying not to over-analyse what made RRR work. “Without changing my thinking process, the film appealed to western audiences,” he says. “So if I try to change something, then I don’t know whether I’ll be appealing to western audiences, and whether I’ll be appealing to my Indian audience as well.” Inevitably, there are plans for an RRR sequel. He recently had a “great idea” about how to continue the story, he says. It almost feels like a responsibility. “It’s a reciprocation of love for the fans and audiences who love this film.”

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Common sense media reviewers.

Epic blockbuster studies colonialism, has brutal violence.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie does promote the idea that you match vio

Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju are incredi

The film is set in India and the majority of the c

The uprising at the core of the film is very viole

Language used includes "bastard" and "wanker." Der

Characters are seen smoking cigars. At a party, ch

Positive Messages

The movie does promote the idea that you match violence with violence. But it also shows the strength in community and teamwork.

Positive Role Models

Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju are incredibly courageous in the face of prejudice and evil. They both realize that teamwork and putting aside their differences will help their cause.

Diverse Representations

The film is set in India and the majority of the cast are native to the country, including the heroes of the piece. The film is very much male-led however, with few female roles of any real note.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

The uprising at the core of the film is very violent. There are brawls and bystanders are hit over the head with rocks and bats. Several brutal deaths. The cracking of bones and bloody faces. Women and children get caught up in the crossfire, being shot and even abducted. There are many explosions and a multitude of weaponry including crossbows, arrows, and cannons. Characters are tortured for information, and are whipped in front of the public as punishment. There are fights between wild animals and humans, the former shot at, the latter mauled. The colonialists beat up helpless Indians, and refuse to use bullets as they are too expensive, killing innocent people using brute force, such as being hit over the head with a branch.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language used includes "bastard" and "wanker." Derogatory language used toward the Indians include them being called "brown buggers," "filth," "rats," and "monkeys."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters are seen smoking cigars. At a party, characters are seen drinking alcohol.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that RRR is a hugely entertaining Indian blockbuster with violent scenes throughout and some racist language. The central theme is that of an uprising, standing up and showing courage in the face of tyrannical rule. Set in 1920s colonial India, Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan Teja) begin as enemies but realize that in order to defeat the British they must join forces. The uprising itself is incredibly violent, but cinematic in its execution. There are fights between humans and wild tigers, with animals being killed and humans mauled. There are also countless deaths -- including innocent women and children -- some of which are brutal and graphic. Characters are also tortured and whipped. There is some use of "bastard" and "wanker," as well as racist language. Characters are referred to as animals and "brown buggers." This Indian production has a diverse cast -- both Telugu and English are spoken -- though it's fair to say the majority of characters, and the heroes of the piece, are men. It has a runtime of over three hours. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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RRR: N.T. Rama Rao Jr. & Ram Charan dancing

Community Reviews

Parents say (3)
Kids say (6)

Based on 3 parent reviews

BLOODY AMAZING

This film is big, what's the story.

RRR is a fictitious story about real events, focusing in on the colonialism of India at the hands of the British. Set in the 1920s, when a young girl is abducted, and her mother callously murdered, family member Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) seeks vengeance against the perpetrators, though he is coming up against a brutal, tyrannical regime. What doesn't help, is that fellow countryman Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan Teja) is working for the enemy, and he himself proves an indestructible force.

Is It Any Good?

This Indian action-drama offers viewers about as much fun as you can have with a movie. RRR is pure cinema, at times completely over-the-top and ridiculous, but remaining grounded by its historical context. The credit must go to director S.S. Rajamouli for this ambitious undertaking. He truly is a master of his craft, with some spellbinding sequences -- scenes that you may say out loud in the planning stage, but to actually bring them to life is another matter. He may not have the budget of a major Hollywood production, but it matters little such is the strength in storytelling, and his ability to create such epic set-pieces. RRR combines fantasy with realism in a striking way, and while the film tells an important tale, above anything else, it's just purely, and utterly entertaining.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in RRR . How did it make you feel? Did it add to the story? Do some types of media violence have different impact than others?

The movie is set in the 1920s during colonial India. What do you know about this period? Why is it important to look back on the past? What can we learn from it?

Discuss some of the racist language used. What purpose did it serve the story? How did it make you feel hearing these things in the film?

The movie has very little female representation . Did you find this problematic? Why, or why not?

The film is a fictitious account of real events. What other movies have you seen that has taken this approach?

Movie Details

In theaters : March 25, 2022
On DVD or streaming : May 20, 2022
Cast : N.T. Rama Rao Jr. , Ram Charan Teja , Alia Bhatt
Director : S.S. Rajamouli
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Indian/South Asian actors
Studio : Variance Films
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : Friendship , History , Wild Animals
Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance , Teamwork
Run time : 187 minutes
MPAA rating : NR
Award : Golden Globe
Last updated : April 7, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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If the detailed social realism of the Dardenne brothers represents one kind of cinema, RRR is its polar opposite. S.S. Rajamouli’s three-hour-plus epic is a riot of outrageous spectacle, gravity-defying stunts, colour, song and dance, big emotions and a menagerie of CG animals. It feels like the kind of film that looks great in a clip on Twitter but is disappointing when you sit down and watch the whole thing. But have no fear — RRR (it stands for “Rise! Roar! Revolt!”) is a big, gaudy, sledgehammer-subtle slice of escapist cinema that is fun from first frame to last.

Set in 1920s India, the plot, as it is, pits soldier Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and villager Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr) against the British Empire, represented by Governor Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson, terrible) and his even more vindictive wife Catherine (Alison Doody, who wields a particularly nasty whip as a reminder of her Indiana Jones days), after the Brits kidnap Bheem’s kid sister. Raju and Bheem are introduced in fantastic fashion — the former performing an in-camera version of The Matrix Reloaded ’s ‘burly brawl’ to apprehend a wrong’un, the latter outrunning a wolf and then shouting down a tiger — and then come together to save a little boy in a river on fire (don’t ask) using a motorcycle, a horse, a rope and a ridiculous feat of timing that puts Spider-Man bridge-rescues to shame. This is all in the first half hour.

RRR never runs out of steam — the dust-ups of the final jungle battle feel as fresh as the opening scene.

From here, the inventiveness and originality of the action escalates to giddy levels, often completely oblivious to the laws of physics. The quality of the VFX is variable but it doesn’t matter, partly because Rajamouli has got such a great eye for brazen movie heroics and partly because it has so much spirit it is easy to be carried along (to wit, there is a fantastic set-piece as Raju batters Brit stooges while being hoisted aloft on Bheem’s shoulders).

In-between the fighting there are heavy-handed, John Woo-esque thematics (loyalty, brotherhood, identity), low comedy as Bheem tries to woo English rose Jenny (Olivia Morris), and catchy musical numbers — the best of the bunch being a dance-off as Raju and Bheem show the stiff shirts of the Raj how it’s done. The plotting is creaky and the writing ham-fisted (“Take the special forces and nail the bastards”), but it wins the day thanks to Rajamouli’s bravura, the infectious charisma of Charan and Rama Rao Jr, ace filmmaking talent (M.M. Keeravani’s huge score, A. Sreeker Prasad’s propulsive editing) and the imagination of the stunt team. RRR never runs out of steam — the dust-ups of the final jungle battle feel as fresh as the opening scene — meaning that 185 minutes run by in the blink of a digital tiger’s eye.

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RRR movie review: SS Rajamouli, Ram Charan, Jr NTR make a lavish meal of a fairly simple storyline

Ram Charan and Jr NTR’s offscreen friendship and camaraderie seep into their onscreen performances, and the organic transformation from strangers to brothers-in-arms has been captured beautifully.

Language: Telugu

RRR is director SS Rajamouli’s much-hyped film which took him five years to conceptualise, write, and direct. Set in the Delhi of 1920s British Raj, the film revolves around two revolutionaries — Rama Raju (Ram Charan), a police officer, and Bheem (Jr NTR), a Gond tribal. How a friendship develops between these two angry young men and the rebellious journey they set on together is what the director brings to life in this larger-than-life magnum opus.

Rajamouli intertwines two elements of matter — fire and water — in the form of Rama and Bheem in this action-packed drama. The storyline is not new to Indian cinema but the director’s grandiose treatment of the incidents — big and small — show us how the ordinary can be transformed into the extraordinary. Rama and Bheem are on two different sides of the British Raj but their stories are also similar in some ways — there is a need to protect their own from the forces that are out to destroy them.

Malli, a young Gond tribal girl, is taken away from her village when Governor Scott Buxton’s wife takes a fancy to Malli’s beautiful henna tattoos. Bheem sets out to save Malli promising his village that he would return only with her. Meanwhile, Rama Raju’s father, Venkatram Raju (Ajay Devgn), died fighting the British Raj, and Rama leaves his village promising to come back with weapons that will help them fight their cause.

RRR is a highly audacious film to say the least. It is also perhaps Rajamouli’s most audacious one till date. While Baahubali was also a period film, he created a universe there using mythology as a foundation. RRR is a far more simple proposition and highly relatable as well as it is set in the period when India’s freedom struggle had just started. But here again, the story is fictional, and the world Rajamouli creates is one about relationships, family, love, loss, sorrow, and happiness. Like most Indian movies, revenge is the central theme in this flick too but this is where the similarity ends. KK Senthil Kumar’s excellent cinematography, coupled with the grandiose sets and Hollywood stunt director Nick Powell’s action sequences, are a stunning watch on the silver screen.

Over the years, there have been other films in South India that came out with a similar theme, like Rajanna , a movie written and directed K V Vijayendra Prasad. In fact, Vijayaendra Prasad is the co-writer of RRR, and one wonders whether the inspiration for RRR came from this 2011 film starring Nagarjuna. The writing by Rajamouli-Prasad is quite effortless, and logic at times does take a backseat. Sample this — an impossible feat of two men hanging from a railway track and swinging on ropes to save a young boy from the river.

However, this can easily be forgiven given the nature and magnitude of the film. There are certain scenes that lag in execution; VFX is some scenes is below average, and with a runtime of 307 minutes, RRR does not keep one hooked every single minute, unlike Baahubali. But it makes up for these minor flaws in the fantastic performances of Ram Charan and Jr NTR whose strong shoulders this film firmly rests on.

Ram Charan and Jr NTR have lived the roles of Rama Raju and Bheem.

Their offscreen friendship and camaraderie seeps into their onscreen performances, and the organic transformation from strangers to brothers-in-arms has been captured beautifully.

Alia Bhatt as Seetha has a small role to play, and she essays it well as do Samuthirakani, Shriya Saran, and Ajay Devgn.

What you need to remember when you start to watch this film is not to compare it to Baahubali . RRR is a definitely an opulent film that must be watched on the big screen. Some may say it is not Rajamouli’s best work but what RRR shows is that he is possibly India’s only director who can make a lavish, large-scale commercial film with the simplest of storylines and the best of stars.

RRR is playing in cinemas.

Rating: ***1/2

Latha Srinivasan is a senior journalist based in Chennai. Her passion is entertainment, travel, and dogs.

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RRR Movie Review

Article by Suman M Published by GulteDesk --> Published on: 1:55 pm, 26 March 2022

3 Hour 5 Min | Action - Patriotic - Drama | 25-03-2022

Cast - Ram Charan, NTR, Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, Shriya, Rahul Ramakrishna, Olivia Morris, Samuthirakani and others

Director - SS Rajamouli

Producer - DVV Danayya

Banner - DVV Entertainments

Music - MM Keeravani

Multistarrers are not new in Indian films, but a star director who never had a failure so far joining forces with two of the biggest stars in the Telugu film industry is immense without a doubt. Right from the announcement till the release date, RRR is enjoying a huge craze among the audience all over. Now the movie is hitting the screens today, after changing the release date from January 7th and with multiple hurdles even before that.

The RRR trailer has many goosebumps moments and is full movie appears to be having many more of them. Both Ram Charan and NTR seem to have given their full potential, while the potential star cast like Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, and others support them. Post Baahubali, the mention of collections in Telugu has changed with terms like ‘Non-Baahubali record’. Well, we have to see if Rajamouli breaks all the existing records and more than that. Let us also see if his vision and creation with RRR impress the audience more than that of Baahubali, to remain his finest work.

The movie is hitting the screens today with US Premieres first. Let us walk into the review.

What Is It About?

Set in the 1920s, a gond tribal girl Malli gets taken away by the Britishers, the then rulers of India. Bheem (NTR) lands in Delhi in disguise as Akhtar to take her back to the tribe. Raju (Ram Charan) works as a police officer in the British empire for a bigger cause, gets into the hunt for Bheem. The two men with different aims find their paths crossed and become friends. Will Bheem be able to bring Malli back and what will Raju do after finding that he is hunting for his best friend? What is Raju’s story? The answers to these questions are all about RRR, Roudram Ranam Rudhiram.

Performances

To start with, both Ram Charan and NTR have competed with each other in giving the best performances to date. Their meeting, confrontational scenes together are completely new and exciting for the audience. It is needless to say how Rajamouli makes his actors look well built, but the emotions and the body language are so well given by the actors.

Ram Charan evolved as one of the best performers with RRR. He looks tack sharp and keen in every frame. Ram Charan amazes us with his selfish tough man nature at one point, while he equally surprises us by telling his inside thoughts with his subtle performance at the other. He so blends in the role of Rama Raju, that we get to adore him more after RRR.

NTR already proved himself as a great performer many a time earlier. But RRR gives us a chance to witness a new dimension in him. NTR entertains us in a rugged role this time and he is flawless in it. Right from the introduction scene till the end, NTR keeps the intensity bar up and above. NTR is at his best in Komuram Bheemudo song than any other.

Alia Bhatt appears as Seetha. Though her role is short, she did fine. Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Samuthirakani, and Rahul Ramakrishna did fine in their respective roles. Olivia Morris did quite well as a kind British woman. Ray Stevenson and Alison Doody appear as Scot Duxton and Catherine Duxton respectively. They excelled in their roles as crooked and vicious British lords.

Technicalities

RRR is technically brilliant and the efforts taken in putting the small details perfect could be seen in each and every frame of the movie.

To applaud the cinematography, there are many to list down but to mention a few, we have to go for the shots like the water reflection shots at Bheem’s intro, Raju and Bheem riding the horse and bike, Raju Bheem meeting scenes, the references with fire and water all through the movie, the climax action scenes, etc. Action scenes in interval and the climax are okay.

The background music by Keeravani is apt for RRR and there are many scenes where the BGM goes on par with the scene towards elevating it multiple folds. All the songs are well pictured, while Komaram Bheemudo and Naatu Naatu remain the best.

So is the choreography of Prem Rakshith for the Naatu Naatu song, where the shuffle steps in the song are a treat to watch on the big screen. The feet were literally flying in the song and this naatu naatu beats all the tango, swing, and flamenco for sure.

Ram Charan & NTR Rama Raju & Bheem Introduction Scenes Naatu Naatu Song

Thumbs Down

Wafer-thin Story Slow in parts of Second half

A pure fictional concept of two real rebels Alluri Seetha Rama Raju and Komuram Bheem meeting in Delhi under different circumstances and befriending each other before they actually become what they are is the story of RRR.

The idea of ‘what if’ the two real men from the past met each other though nobody knows if they did ever, itself is a brownie. While the story is completely new and exciting already, the best thing Rajamouli did was choose Ram Charan and NTR as his leading men. Rajamouli did his thing and everything else obviously fell in place. The plot could have been deeper than it is., but the presence of two terrific actors and their full-on performances are the selling points here.

Coming to the making, Rajamouli knows where the highs and lows should exactly be. Right from the establishment of the story and moving on to the introduction of the two heroes, Rajamouli did fine work. The introduction scene of Ram Charan as a point-blank police officer who becomes a juggernaut in the same scene is accurate. The reflection of Rama Raju’s aggression is shown in the dialogue of a British officer, who says, ‘He scares me more than the mob’. Also, Bheem’s intro scene with a face-to-face of a tiger is perfect and is sure to give goosebumps.

The establishment scenes of Raju and Bheem are shot well. The whole episode of Raju and Bheem meeting each other to save a boy is entirely a visual delight. From the friendship to the Naatu Naatu song, Rama Raju’s ongoing search to Bheem’s entry in Scott’s House, the first half is very well structured and packed.

The Interval block remains the highlight with an electrified action episode where the real clash between the fire and the water can be felt. This fight with two equally powerful men fighting for their own causes has emotion and intensity within it. Except that the interval block could have been better if focused more on Rama Raju and Bheem locking horns than on the animal chaos. On whole, the first half is a full-point scorer.

Handling the superstars in one film is a daunting task and Rajamouli did it with ease. The director balanced the lengths and weights of both the roles, though they are completely different from each other. In a way, Ram Charan climbs a step up and only with the help of NTR himself. The dialogue where Bheem says ‘Nenu Malli Kosam Vachanu, Rama Raju Matti Kosam Vachadu’, says a lot.

The second half takes off at a slow pace with the flash back of Rama Raju wherein Ajay Devgan and Shriya show up. The episode of Ajay Devgn can be predicted. Though the passing of the baton from Venkata Rama Raju to his son is clear, his word with his people and the bonding with Seetha appear a little hurried and not established properly. The bond of love and sacrifice between Raju and Seetha could not be felt well at the later point too. Though Alia Bhatt did her part well, the scenes of her somehow appear disconnected and a bit away from natural.

While Ram Charan steals the show as a determined police officer working for the British, NTR grabs the spotlight with his marvelous spectacle in the song Komuram Bheemudo. NTR gives his stellar performance in the song, pushing the scene of importance to many levels higher. Well, the escape scenes of Komaram Bheem seem somewhat obvious and so are the revelations by Seetha later.

Rajamouli’s style of narrative needs a praise for the flashback episode. The director breaks it into two parts while the second part is later narrated by Seetha. The technique of keeping surprises for the second half deserves a mention.

The slow pace ends thereafter and the burning moments keep up with the pre-climax and the climax too. The action episode of Bheem liberating Rama Raju from the solitary cell is a little overboard, but the duo invading the British forces with strength and dominance keeps us thrilled. In the climax, there is no real need to show the scenes where they hand over the guns to all the people. The word will be kept by Rama Raju and we all know that.

The RRR has breathtaking action scenes, arresting visuals that make us feel the intensity of the story, while it has its drawbacks like some predictable scenes. On the whole, RRR boils your blood, wets your eyes, and gives you goosebumps with some slow-but-not-dull scenes in the second half. Overall, RRR is a bRRRilliant and teRRRific portRRRayal of two patRRRiotic characters and their fictional fRRRiendship with wondeRRRful performances of Jr ntRRR and RRRam Charan.

Bottom Line: PoweRRRful Ram – ImpRRRessive Bheem

Rating: 3.25/5

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