RRR movie review
The Indian action epic "RRR" has made a one-night-only return to US theaters on June 1st following its initial theatrical release. Although director S.S. Rajamouli has consistently been successful at the box office, his latest work is his first breakthrough in Western audiences due to its anti-colonial theme and maximalist action choreography. "RRR" is a buddy drama about two real-life freedom fighters, Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju. Rajamouli has developed his brand of Nationalistic self-mythologizing with help from recurring collaborators like Vijayendra Prasad and both co-leads, who starred in Rajamouli's "Yamadonga" and "Magadheera". The movie is set in and around Delhi in 1920, with Malli, an innocent pre-teen, being kidnapped by the cartoonishly evil British Governor Scott and his sadistic wife Cathy. Raju, a peerless Colonial police officer, befriends Bheem, but they are at cross-purposes: Bheem wants to rescue Maali, while Raju wants to catch the unknown "tribal" that Scott's lackey fears. Rajamouli's love for Cecil B. DeMille-style melodrama is evident throughout the movie, which is a fitting breakthrough for Rajamouli. "RRR" embodies Bheem as an inspiring symbol of quasi-traditional, boundary-trampling patriotism, incorporating potentially alienating elements like cheap-seats love of grisly violence and brash sloganeering into propulsive, inventive, and visually assured fight scenes and dance numbers. Rajamouli works with and uses his actors as part of his shock-and-awe style of melodrama, as Rama Rao is ideally cast as the naively sweet-natured Bheem, and Charan's steely-eyed performance is strong enough to be credibly superhuman. Rajamouli repeats his preference for one nation under populist ubermenschen, where both Bheem and Raju are extraordinary men because they are aspirational expressions of the people's will.