David Farnor | On 29, May 2022

Director: SS Rajamouli
Cast: NT Rama Rao Jr, Ram Charan
Certificate: 15

Note: The version of RRR streaming on Netflix UK is in Hindi. The original Telugu and other language versions are available exclusively on ZEEE5, as part of a £29.99 annual subscription.

Have you ever seen a man jump through the air while firing a flaming arrow? How about a man jump through the air while firing a flaming arrow? And evading a roaring tiger? In slow-motion? That’s the kind of ridiculous, jaw-dropping spectacle you can expect to see in RRR, a big, loud, bold and brilliant thriller.

The title stands for “Raudraṁ Raṇaṁ Rudhiraṁ” in Telugu, which translates to rage, war, blood or rise, roar, revolt, depending on your language, and that gives you an idea of what to expect from the three-hour epic, which hails from Telugu director SS Rajamouli (Baahubali) and superstars NT Rama Rao Jr and Ram Charan. Set against the backdrop of India’s battle for independence against the British Raj, the film follows two key men from history: Komaram Bheem (Rao), a leader of the revolution, and Alluri Sitarama “Ram” Raju (Charan), a police officer who is also a revolutionary working undercover in the hope of securing firearms for his compatriots.

How does one embed themselves secretly within the Indian police? Why, by taking on an entire crowd of protestors singlehandedly to prove one’s fierce loyalty – and that brutal, intense conflict is our eye-opening introduction to events, which are fictionalised to imagine that the two men were friends. So when Ram is tasked with leading the hunt for Bheem, while Bheem is determined to rescue young girl Malli (Twinkle Sharma) after she is effectively kidnapped by the British governor’s household, the stage is set for a face-off with both physical and emotional stakes.

The rest, as they say, is history – if history involved running from wolves, doing backflips on someone else’s shoulders while wielding two pistols and a whole sequence involving horses, motorbikes and a flaming train. Rajamouli doesn’t skimp on the spectacle at any point, so much so that the 180-minute runtime flies past at a relentless pace. The cast, meanwhile, sink their teeth into everything with relish, the two men turning their famous names into epic cinematic icons as they ground each absurd, ambitious showdown with a winning bromance and heartfelt passion. All that and a barnstorming dance number to the song Naatu Naatu? RRR has everything you could want from a blockbuster – and even more to spare.

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