In SS
Rajamouli we trust...
RRR –
RISE ROAR REVOLT
DIRECTED
BY – THE ONLY INDIAN FILMMAKER WHO CAN MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS LOOK COOL AS
FUCK WITHOUT IT LOOKING CAMPY
CAST –
RAM CHARAN, NTR, AJAY DEVGAN, ALIA BHATT, SHRIYA SARAN AND OTHERS
When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I wasn’t moved.
It looked like a typical - Indian freedom fighters fighting against the British
who are white devils movie. Lots of action, zero sense. If it was any one other
than S S Rajamouli directing it, I wouldn’t have looked twice at it. But after Magadheera,
Eega and especially Bahubali- in S S Rajamouli we trust. And that trust isn’t betrayed.
Now Indian film makers are known to take extra liberties with
historical stories. I watched 45 minutes of the Kabir Khan directed 83 – about our
1983 cricket world cup victory- and turned it off. It was a real story which didn’t
need this much masala to make it work. It was a lot of showing off without any
substance. But as Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad says “No,
one likes a show-off” to which he gets the reply – “Unless what they are
showing off is dope as fuck”.
RRR is completely
fictional story about two of India’s revolutionary freedom fighters meeting to
fight the oppressive British regime- Alluri Sitaramaraju and Komaram Bheem. But
this isn’t just masala movie making- it is myth making of the classiest level. The
entry scene for A. Ramaraju (Ram Charan) for example, involves almost zero
dialogue from the hero and starts out very much like a typical South Indian
mass entertainer scene. There is the hero’s entry set to heart pumping music, you
get to see the fire and the conviction in his eyes before he jumps into an
angry mob to catch someone. A huge crowd piles on top of him. Normally, you
would expect the typical hero pushes everyone off and all people fly in
different directions kinda scene...like that oft-copied scene from the Matrix Reloaded. But
that doesn’t happen at all. Instead, he actually realistically fights his way
out of it...almost reminiscent of that awesome prison fight scene in The Raid 2
and catches the target with a lot of damage to himself.
This I feel
is the greatest skill of Rajamouli. This is why Bahubali worked and many other
copies of it failed later. Even if there is a lot of masala, just like a
perfect Indian cook- Rajamouli knows where to hold back and where to let go. No
wonder his movies have so much universal appeal. Even if you were watching this
movie in a language foreign to you, you would still understand what is
transpiring on screen. There are so many amazing visual scenes here that I risk
spoiling the movie out of sheer excitement.
Getting two
of the most popular stars from the Telugu film industry together – Ram Charan
and NTR Jr. isn’t easy. To give them equal enough screen presence is even more
difficult. To honestly get them both to act so well is nearly impossible. Again,
Rajamouli pulls it off with finesse. The intensity of fire in Ram Charan and
the depth and fluidity of water in NTR Jr. just stands out. One is a trained cop
and the other is a Gond tribal. Rajamouli is a visual story-teller and he uses
everything from color shades to costumes and body language to create the
characters on screen. So, the English-speaking police officer is well shaved,
his moments around the goras more confident, he has a gym trained well
cut body and his eyes have this sharpness of purpose to it. While the tribal is
unshaven, unsure of his moments in the city, he looks at tigers in the eye
without blinking and has a trusting but fierce demeanor. Even without
dialogue, you understand these characters so well. The way Rajamouli uses themed
lighting for the characters – Yellow symbolizing fire for Ramaraju (Ram Charan)
and blue symbolizing water for Bheem (Jr. NTR) is something which is noteworthy.
Its these little details that make the movie special. Rajamouli uses well known
actors for small roles – Shriya Saran, Ajay Devgan etc. but they make the most
of the screentime they have been given.
That’s another
noteworthy thing about the movie. Its runtime though almost 3 hours- never seems
like a dull moment. Even when there is no big visual set piece on screen. The
movie is about the chemistry of the main characters and their love for their
country and their people. This is the thread which holds together the gems of
the visual poetry together. Credit must also be given to K V Vijayendra Prasad
(S S Rajamouli’s father and legendary screen play writer) for creating a nearly
impossible screenplay where action and emotion are equally balanced. Everything
is there on screen for a reason and barring a extra bloody whipping scene,
there is no time wasted for anything. Everything flows, everything rhymes.
Poetry is
nothing without its inherent rhythm, not only the contrasts and visuals dance
and rhyme with each other- but so does M M Keeravani’s music. This may seem
like hyperbole but M M Keeravani and Rajamouli are a bit like Zimmer and Nolan.
They just come together to create magic on screen. If it wasn’t for M M
Keeravani’s rousing tracks and soulful melodies, half of the scenes wouldn’t have
hit the way they do. The dance number (Natu Natu in Telugu or Nacho Nacho in
Hindi) is infectious and had my whole civilized theatre almost ready to dance. From Rajamouli’s Magadheera to Eega, Bahubali
and now RRR- they just bring the best out of each other. They use different
themes for the characters and while it is the oldest trick in the book to let
characters have their own musical motifs, I feel it just isn’t used enough
these days in Indian movies. RRR makes the best use of it just like Bahubali
did.
While
comparisons to Bahubali are inevitable, but even as a story onto itself one of
the only drawbacks in the movie is the lack of a good villain. The villains are
of course the British- who are one dimensional and evil. There is of course one
sympathetic memsaab… but that’s about it. I had tweeted halfway through the
movie that S S Rajamouli is Zack Snyder on steroids and I am not backing away
on those words. The visual style, the operatic dialogue, the use of slow motion
is very reminiscent of Snyder’s style yet refreshingly Indian and original. Come to think of Zack Snyder comparisons again-
think of this movie like 300. Not necessarily historically accurate or meant to
be a multi-faceted drama, but more as a Ballad…a hero’s song, a Powada if you
will.
The movie
is a clear tribute to India’s revolutionaries. It is sometimes extra bloody and
extra violent, but perhaps that’s the point. If in 2022, you are dumb enough to
believe that our freedom was gained just through Charka spinning and turning
the other cheek, then you seriously need to watch this movie. A LOT of people,
a lot of unspoken heroes literally gave every drop of blood they had and then
some more to get us to where we are. The movie celebrates them in the end.
Like
Sadhguru says, the point of our Itihaasa- our mythical epics like Mahabharata
or Ramayana- isn’t that if it happened or not. The point is what you learn from
it. We know Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitaramraju probably never met in real
life, but the point is what we are learning from this movie. To add to it, it’s
entertaining as fuck. Like Rajamouli’s previous movies- it is unashamed of its
own Hindu culture. It uses the Vande Mataram flag designed by Madam Bhikaji
Cama and Veer Savarkar, it exhibits many aspects of our undiscovered tribal
culture, the movie has perhaps the best use of the famous shloka “Karmanye
vadhikaraste…” from the Gita, there is a scene which is a reverse parallel of
the Ashokvan scene from Ramayana where Rama is the one being held in
captivity, and…the climax has some Lord Rama imagery that absolutely convinces
me that S S Rajamouli is the only director capable of directing a Ramayana
movie.
Indian regional cinema is honestly light years ahead of
Bollywood. If you want subtlety and simplicity- Bengali, Malaylam and Marathi
cinema explore the nuance of human emotion to their deepest. If you want the
panache, epic, operatic storytelling while stretching our imagination to the
furthest- South Indian movie makers are the best at it. Success of movies like
Bahubali, KGF, Pushpa and now RRR has proved that when you are ready to accept
your strengths, you can accomplish wonders.
RRR is undoubtedly a not just a movie, but a theatrical
experience. It’s meant to be had with loads of whistles and claps and screaming
people around. The movie is CLASSIC!
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