Rajamouli's RRR Featuring Ram Charan, NTR Jr Review: A Perfect Mass Masala Film

Rajamouli is a unique filmmaker who is known for perfectly blending ancient mythological stories with modern visualization techniques. His magnum opus RRR which hit the theatres on 25^th March is a historical fiction that fuses the lives of Telugu freedom fighters Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju with references from Ramayana. The story revolves around Ram Charan as Ram, a brutal police officer who works for the British and NTR Jr. as Bheem, a tribal leader who is in search of a little girl from his village taken away by the British. The film explores their friendship, brotherhood, betrayal, rivalry, and the constant love for each other. Rajamouli stands apart as a filmmaker in the way he reimagines a simple, known and to an extent predictable storyline with grand visuals and its treatment with emotional turmoil.

There are several interesting symbols defined for both the characters that are used to highlight the central theme of the story and to give an enhanced clarity about their character sketches. For instance, Ram, is an embodiment of fire which means he is an angry young man who is fueled with a burning mission and a purpose bigger than his emotions. On the other hand, Bheem is a symbol of water, which reflects his innocence, his clean and clear heart, bound by emotions and who leads his tribe from the front. Interestingly, the scenes where they meet for the first time and later when they clash involves both the elements of fire and water. Just like fire and water, Ram and Bheem can make you either feel safe or put you in danger depending on the intensity of their current emotions.

Like the fire and water symbolism, Ram rides a horse and Bheem rides a motorbike. What makes these elements more fascinating is that they aren't a one-time-use rather, they are sprinkled as call-backs throughout the movie. There are some cinematically brilliant shots that capture the essence of the period drama to cute montages that demonstrate the bond between the two leads. For instance, the two strong men who are shown to defy gravity and topple anyone or anything in front of them, run away when a little shepherd chases them when they try to steal a goat. The best things about the film are the Naatu Naatu song and the pre-interval sequence that makes your jaw drop. However the second half of the film is slightly protracted.

Unlike Baahubali where women characters like Sivagami or Devasena were given a notable amount of weightage, in RRR we can see only glimpses of Shreya and Alia. I know it is kind of a spoiler, but I think it is worth mentioning, there is a scene where Bheem says, “Sita should not go after Rama, I will make Rama come after Sita.” I understand it is a period film, set in the 1920s, women were ideally not expected to save men, plus the film also has the reference to Ramayana, so the dialogue beautifully falls in place. Given that Rajamouli is known for giving importance to his female characters, especially Bahubali which has stronger women characters even though it was a period film too, you just feel a little disappointed. While Sita is not a warrior in this film, I could see her genuinely making an effort to go after Ram, however her attempt just gets thwarted by Bheem. It would have been more exciting if Bheem offered to support Sita in her mission to save Ram instead of taking the complete spotlight himself.

RRR makes you whistle, clap, shout, scream, exclaim and kind of click your tongue at times when things get a little too cliched. However, it certainly clicks as a multi starrer satiating fans of both the superstars with brilliant mass action moments on screen and Rajamouli’s own touch promises an extravagant theatrical experience. So, my final review of RRR is that it is a massive masala film that is worth a watch on the big screen.