I find it absolutely amusing how many of this site’s Indian readers keep emailing me about how they find the critical acclaim for SS Rajamouli’s “RRR” absolutely hilarious. I already wrote about this around a month ago, but the emails keep coming in.
The gist of it is that the exotic nature of “RRR” is nothing new to Indian film fans. They’ve seen this kind of movie before, and many times over. Whereas Western audiences cuddling to it is just another indicator that we haven’t a clue about the types of movies being released in that part of the world.
On the excellent CriticsTop10, which compiles all of the year’s ten best lists, “RRR” is the ninth most listed film of 2022, appearing on almost 200 critics lists. It’s also had its Oscar odds skyrocket within the last few weeks, winning several regional critics awards including Rajamouli being declared Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle.
The film was shot over 320 days. That’s Kubrick-level madness. Not just that, it seems as though production went on and off from November 2018 to August 2021.
I’ve said this before: It’s an entertaining movie; the action is deliriously over the top, the story very silly, and its 3-hour runtime a little too indulgent. I know Rajamouli was going for an “epic” scope and the sheer exuberance of the whole thing is pretty contagious, but it’s a whopping 187 minute assault of the senses …
Part of the charm of this movie is its outlandish bombast. You shouldn’t take it too seriously, it plays like a live-action cartoon — a muscular Looney Tunes-esque action epic that American critics have been praising to the high heavens.
Michael Atkinson, a legendary film writer, most famous for his writing in the Village Voice, is clearly not a fan:
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.