Movie audiences in the United States tend to stick to watching movies that come from Hollywood. Speaking for myself, I’ll admit I haven’t seen a lot of foreign films. But over the last decade or so, movies and TV shows form other countries have found huge success in international markets. But the one that this piece is about stands out from most of them. Action, music, singing, dancing, friendship, violence, trauma, and a revolution. These are all the ingredients that make “RRR” – translated into English as Rise, Roar, Revolt – a modern movie epic.
The general premise is actually unique. It’s based on two real life Indian revolutionaries from the early 20th Century but the story in the movie is completely fictional. They never met each other in real life, so the writers and director conceived of a story where they met each other and inspired each other to lead a full revolution against British rule. They still did a lot of research to make sure the details of the world and characters were accurate to the period. But just because they cared about getting certain details historically accurate, don’t assume that stopped them from going all out in…well, everything, about the story.
There is so much about this movie that is fantastical. A lot of that can be explained by the culture of Indian film-making in general. The way they craft and tell movies is very different from the average Hollywood flick. In this movie, you will experience everything. Action scenes that go all out despite the law of physics. A dance-off at a wedding attended mainly by the British. A couple of musical scenes show up, one of them occurs when the singer is being flogged/whipped in front of a crowd. Scenes showing the true brutal nature of the British and the unspeakable acts the people of India had to resort to in order to fight back. A lot of you would probably assume there is no way a movie can incorporate all of this and still craft a well-made story. But the thing that truly makes this movie is the friendship between our leads.
This is a 3 hour movie but it knows how to utilize every minute. The first 40 minutes we spend time getting to know the initial conflict and our main leads. The British Governor has taken a young girl from one of India’s tribes at the request of his wife. This causes one of our main leads, Bheem, to head to Delhi in secret to bring back the girl to their tribe. And then there is Raju, a man serving as a police officer and is tasked with finding and arresting Bheem. Their first time meeting each other involved them teaming up to save a young boy from a train on fire by performing an insane action sequence straight out of 1980s Hollywood cinema. They don’t know who the other is and become close friends.
Like mentioned earlier, the reason so much of this movie works is because of the friendship between these two characters. It is genuine and wholesome. They have fun with each other, help the other, create a strong sense of trust. Which makes it so much more heartbreaking when halfway through the movie, Raju has to arrest Bheem. Right in the middle of another extraordinary action scene involving a small army of animals helping Bheem attack the British soldiers and the Governor’s home in Delhi. I’m just saying this now – all the action scenes in this movie are awesome.
Some people might still think that this is an over the top action film. But there is a lot more that elevates the movie. For one thing, this move doesn’t back away from the harsh reality of the time. When we find out what Raju’s secret plan is, we are treated to a flashback scene where a young Raju was forced to shoot his own father to activate a bomb and kill dozens of British soldiers. Raju is forced to whip & flog Bheem in front of the people in Delhi, his best friend bleeding because of him. The movie wants us to show how complex some of these characters are and various scenes in the movie are meant to support the universal themes of the movie. It asks us what it takes to truly start a revolution, the costs that might entail. And it also uses the villains of the movie to speak to how we should be treating one another and doesn’t back down in reminding us of the cruel things we have done to the other.
There is one more thing I want to speak on. When we are introduced to Raju, the movie gives us the title card of “The Fire”. For Bheem, the title card reads “The Water”. In regards to Raju, this can be interpreted as him being the spark to light the revolutionary fire for his people. For Bheem, he is the unstoppable storm that is coming to towards the British, and the destruction that will be created in his wake. And when these two are finally fighting together, it is beautiful and awe-inspiring. It’s said that the writers & director of this movie also took influence from Hindu myths when it came to creating the main leads. It certainly explains how they can give Hollywood superheroes a run for their money in the action.
At the end of the day, this is a beautiful epic. Elements and genres that shouldn’t work together end up blending beautifully together. The entire thing is anchored by our main leads. The ideas and themes of the movie are universal and is no doubt a big part on why this movie is so big outside of India. A modern epic like no other. Get off of your computer and witness the story of Raju & Bheem!