Top Movies of 2022: No. 4 - RRR

4. RRR, dir. S. S. Rajamouli

I had a really bad January. The week of my birthday we found out about a sudden, shocking family tragedy and we had to rush across the country. That week sucked. There was a lot of pain, a lot of guilt, a lot of stress. Anyway, I only dwell on all that to say that only movie from 2022 really cheered me up. There were a lot of fun movies, a lot of great vibes, a lot of great friendships, but the most loving and positive experience I could think of to get me out of my funk was "Do you know Naatu?" That put a smile on my face two sizes too big for my head. My grinning cheeks were out past my ears.

I'm very happy that an Indian movie has finally caught on in the West. Years ago, I was trying to tell anybody who would listen about this heroic epic called Baahubali, a duology of fantasy movies also directed by S. S. Rajamouli. I was yelling "Baahubali" at total strangers around town, hoping anybody would listen. Please watch Baahubali, and then consider many other great Indian movies that RRR could lead you to. You can watch Lagaan, another movie about heroic colonial subjects defeating British twits, this time in a game of cricket. Or if you want another awesome bromance, there's always, Sholay, "The Greatest Story Ever Told!", featuring a scene of two bros having fun riding through the country. (I'm obsessed with that sequence, it's so precious.)

So why did RRR catch on but not Baahubali or War (2019) or Enthiran? I do not know. RRR is a remarkably big movie, the most expensive one ever made in India. Maybe those other movies were just too fantastic to be taken seriously, or not fantastic enough to stand-out. RRR hits that Goldilocks Point of being just amazing enough that it is unlike any blockbuster from around the world, yet is not laughably bizarre. The subject matter helps too. Despising British imperialism is practically a universal language thanks to their centuries of global pillaging. A historically inaccurate over-the-top fantasy of preposterous violence against stuck-up English villains? If you grew up watching Roland Emmerich's The Patriot, you're ready for RRR. Maybe also in an age where the MCU is the dominant form of cinema, RRR had an opening. Where the MCU is sarcastic and self-conscious, RRR is nothing but sincere. Gloriously, shamelessly sincere.

Also, it could be that RRR is just a great movie. This is a three hour monstrosity that needs all three hours. RRR has more movie in it than any other movie of 2022. I thought this was wrapping up and going to end on a downer, before it suddenly launched a whole second act. There's incredible action sequences. There's our two central bros, Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.) and Raju (Ram Charan), effectively falling in love during the greatest hand catch scene in film history under a burning bridge to save a kid. We then shift to a tragic structure where these two superpowered heroes hide themselves in their various secret identities, unwittingly hunting each other. There's a scene of public torture so defiant and dramatic, it might as well be Christ on the Mount. Then one guy becomes an avatar of the god Vishnu. 

And then there's CG wild animals. 

And then there's a piggy back fight scene.

I could go on. There are many wonders yet to describe.

Now to be a downer, there is an undercurrent in RRR that left me frankly disturbed. I loved the achingly hot bromance made so innocently of any possible queer subtext. I loved the complete disinterest in historical accuracy (the British Empire ruled Brazil in this universe). However, RRR is not all simple fun as it seems. This is also a work of nationalist myth-making which gets especially unpleasant during the end credits music number. That scene was this martial dance sequence featuring several heroes of India, or more specifically, Hindu independence. Raju and Bheem liberate Inida, but you must wonder liberate for who? This is a very diverse and complex country that many powers would like to flatten down. The fact that Bheem is a little too proud when he reveals his Muslim garb is only a disguise worries me. Especially when right now the Modi government is at war with its own Muslim citizens.

And I do not really have a solution there. I'd love to enjoy more Indian cultural products, but the darker turn that country is taking is going to keep clouding its future, even in cinema. In the meantime, I cannot really be too much of a buzzkill for RRR. Because in the end, we still do have Naatu. It is not too late to turn that into a huge Tik Tok phenomena. I want to Naatu at the next wedding I attend.