RRR (2022) Cinema purists may barf at the idea, but it tickles me to death that this movie is India's entry into the Oscar race for Best Foreign Film of the year.
It's a Bollywood epic on steroids.......and if I started writing a detailed description of this film and its perpetual, 3 hour onslaught of non-stop, way over-the-top spectacle, I'm not sure you'd believe me.
Oh, did I use the phrase 'over the top'? Scratch that. There is no ceiling to the insane degree this movie goes to in order to knock your eyeballs out of your head. There's no 'top' for it to go over.....the movie's already floating around in its own delirious galaxy.
Over the years, I've watched and enjoyed the furiously bouncy dance numbers from Bollywood films, but honestly, I've rarely found the time (or the patience) to sit through the entire films themselves, which almost always run anywhere from 2 & 1/2 to 3 hours.
But 'RRR' (standing for Rise, Roar, Revolt), pinned me to the screen for its full length.....and I watched it with alternating bouts of awe, wonder, disbelief, derisive laughter, genuine laughter, eye, rolling, head shaking, and yes.....impressed jaw-dropping.
And here's why. The film goes all out to stagger you with so much action, adventure, feverish melodrama, foot stomping music and show stopping dance numbers that it makes Marvel and DC comic book movies look like 'My Dinner With Andre'.....(or Merchant-Ivory 'tempest-in-a-teacup' snoozers)
While the film doubles down on the amount of frenzied action it hurls at you, it maintains a wonderful, irony-free aura of shameless audacity. Maybe that explains why I got such a kick out of it.....there's literally nothing too crazy, corny and embarrassing this movie isn't afraid to throw into the mix.....(as opposed to the Marvel movies constant, weary efforts to make their superheroes always hip, witty and meta.....which lately has begun to wear us all out)
Based on two real heroic rebels from India's history, 'RRR' plunges you into the 1920's, with the country colonized and occupied by its oppressive British rulers, who view the native population as little more than subservient children to be disciplined with an iron hand.
By all means, feel free to hiss, boo and throw popcorn at the screen every time you see the loathsome British Governor Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his imperiously vile wife Catherine (Alison Doody)....these two make Star Wars villains look like Teletubbies.
Catherine's abducted a little village girl to amuse her as a household pet, so it falls to the village's fearless, near invincible protector Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rau Jr.) to find and rescue the child.
And boy is this ever the guy for the job......right at the start, we see him go mano e mano with a tiger and an entire menagerie of CGI beasties. (I kid you not...)
But the dastardly Brits have just the guy to hunt him down and thwart him, the equally fearless, near invincible Rama Raju (Ram Charan Teja). Supposedly an ultra-loyal Indian army officer, he's secretly a deep cover revolutionary leader.
And the virtually superhuman Rama Raju has already more than proved his worth to his evil overlords. In a sequence you can only see to believe, he wades into an angry, rebellious mob of thousands, armed only with a wooden baton.......and soundly beats up the crowd of thousands... (Again, I kid you not).
Now comes the titanic Clash Of Titans as these two men, each capable of boundless feats of near suicidal heroism, at first become fast friends, unware of each other's hidden agendas. Together, they outrage and astound an entire luncheon soiree of British uppercrusts with a mind blowing Bollywood dance-off....(by now you know, I'm kidding you not.)
Need I describe any more? All you need to know is that our two super-rebels endure endless battles, betrayals, hairbreadth escapes, beatings, tortures.....and let me think, if I left out anything else. Oh right.....more battles and a final infinitely satisfying showdown with those despicable, hiss-worthy Buxtons.
And I shouldn't even have to mention the film finishes up with another elaborate frenetic dance number designed to look like a propagandized pep rally....(with everyone proudly showing off their biceps while dancing.......)
I guess I'm trying to tell you there's no way to approach 'RRR' from a remote, distant viewpoint. It's a movie so unabashedly primal in its intentions and presentation that you either go with it, embrace the epic mythmaking and wild exaggerations of it all.......or just stay away from it.
As for the BQ.......what more can I say. I had a blast. 4 stars (****).........call it ridiculous, call it nonsense....but at its heart, it's the kind of stuff that made people fall in love with movies in the first place....
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