The weapons will come themselves in search of their battle.
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2022
#7 : RRR
Multilingual, pan-Indian, historical-action-romance blockbuster set in the 1920s, following a pair of real-life revolutionaries as they take on the might of the British Raj.
I've heard this is good, but there would have been absolutely no chance of me watching it under normal circumstances - I'm expecting it to be somewhat outside of my cultural norms.
Well, yes it is but it is, in places at least, a load of fun. It is also, in other places, overblown, silly, impressive, you-name-it - basically, any adjective you can think of will probably be covered at some point during the 182 minute running time. But what it is throughout is utterly, utterly bonkers.
The general plot, as The Guardian states, follows a pair of real-life revolutionaries - Komaram Bheem (played by N. T. Rama Rao Jr) and Rama Raju (played by Ram Charan). What The Guardian or the film neglects to mention is that, in real life, the two of them never met so this is all completely invented. And if they had met, you can be quite certain that it wouldn't have gone anything like it does here - the whole thing features so many twists, turns and coincidences as to be quite ridiculous. And that's even before we get to the singing and dancing!
The main baddies in this are very much the British and they are all amusingly pantomime (except for Jenny, who is pure of heart and helps them in their hour of need). There are also times when both of the "heroes" indulge in some extremely unheroic behaviour - at times they are actively working against each other (but obviously things get resolved before the end and they come together to beat those awful Brits).
The film may be utterly ridiculous, but it certainly doesn't lack ambition. It has some very impressive imagery and stunts, a HUGE cast of extras (the introductory scene apparently featured 10,000 people) and some very impressive sets indeed - it's always a feast for the eyes. And although the plot is ridiculous, it is engaging - you know perfectly well how it's going to end but you're interested to see how it gets there (whilst often not believing what you're seeing).
Assuming that everyone in this film was told to go completely over the top, the acting is very much as the director wanted it. NTR Jr and Ram Charan are both engaging (and apparently very big things in the world of Indian cinema). Alia Bhatt does an excellent job of looking pretty and staring into the middle distance as Sita and Ray Stevenson and Alison Doody (a Bond girl from A View To A KIll) are excellent value as the main evil Brits.
Wikipedia tells me this is mainly a Telagu language film (the Brits speak an amusing mix of English and Telagu) and it's my first of the kind (it's my second Indian film, but the first was in Hindi). It's also the first Indian-produced film to win an Oscar - Best Original Song for "Naatu Naatu" (apparently that sequence was shot in Ukraine). Unsurprisingly, the film did quite well in India - it's the third highest grossing Indian film of all time.
Once I immersed myself in the spirit of the film, I actually quite enjoyed it - my only quibble would be the running time because it just doesn't need to be over three hours (but I believe this isn't an uncommon occurrence with Indian films). You don't get a chance to get bored though - the scenes change so frequently and so radically that there's just no time for any of that nonsense. All in all, it was an enjoyable cultural experience, but not one I'm looking to repeat anytime soon - at time of writing, it's available to stream on Netflix or to rent at all the usual locations.
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