Telugu filmmaker SS Rajamouli of Baahubali fame has delivered yet another cinema masterpiece in RRR, much to the delight of a raucous audience at Melbourne’s Village Cinema Crown.
The month-long festival of ‘Celebrating Indian Cinema’ had a stupendous beginning on Friday with the screening of SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus RRR. The festival is being held at Village Cinema theatres across Victoria and will be on from 25 March to 25 April.
The atmosphere inside the cinema hall was electrifying. Every scene of RRR was met with thunderous applause and a roar from the packed audience, a large section of which were young school and college going millennials, who thoroughly enjoyed the fantasy drama enfolding on the screen. The movie is set in the 1920s and describes the fictitious adventure of two freedom fighters – Komaram Bheem (Jr NTR) and Alluri Seetharama Raju (Ram Charan) and their exploits against the British Raj and the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Bheem, an Adivasi hero, enters the scene (very dramatically) on a mission to rescue a young Adivasi girl who has been abducted by the British. He befriends Ram who is a British police officer on his own personal mission against the British. The story of RRR is about how Bheem and Ram, who do not know about each other’s missions, learn the truth, turn into foes and, finally, unite again for a common cause.
The film has captivated the imagination of audiences worldwide with moviegoers at a cinema hall in Hyderabad reportedly setting off firecrackers inside the hall and waving flags bearing the hero’s photos on them. The film also stars Alia Bhatt in a key role and Ajay Devgn doing a cameo.
With Baahubali, Rajamouli had emerged as a big name in Indian cinema but if the audience reaction is anything to go by, RRR‘s mega-spectacle is set to break a few box-office records. This mega budget film was awaited with much anticipation, and it does not disappoint.
RRR keeps the audience engaged with its mega sets, bustling crowd scenes, brilliant computer-generated imagery and outstanding camera work. Jr NTR is on a roller-coaster ride in the film in a powerful role and is particularly impressive in all the action scenes. Ram Charan is brilliantly understated as a police officer hiding his emotions. The bromance of the two lead men keeps the audience enthralled.
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Anand Subramanian, who was at the movie’s Melbourne premier, told NRI Affairs: “Very high masala quotient and entertainment. The emotions make even the most illogical physics defying sequences acceptable. Last 30 minutes especially will rouse even the most passive viewer.”
“Audience response was a sight to see! Cheers and whistles on cue! Everyone looked happy and satisfied as they walked out after three hours,” he added.
The audience reaction on social media has been nothing short of phenomenal.
“”If cinema is our religion, Rajamouli is our God”, says YouTuber Angry Rantman, who called this movie not just a masterpiece but a “PhD, Doctorate piece”.
According to Tollywood movie monitor AndhraBoxOffice.com, the film had a record opening in Andhra and Telangana.
Twitter user @KD_19 wrote, “After a long time had a total blast in theatre with an Indian movie #RRR what an overwhelming experience @ssrajamouli sir you hit it out of the park again with @tarak999 @AlwaysRamCharan 3 hrs full of excitement enjoyment n hooting didn’t watch it, lived it… SSR”
Siddharth Kannan tweeted, “#RRR isn’t a movie, it is n epitome of perfection in the world of cinema. @tarak9999 & @AlwaysRamCharan r in every frame & u experience the brilliance of these superstars. @aliaa08 & @ajaydevgn’s intense performance is outstanding. @ssrajamouli,I bow down to your mastery. 4.5 stars”
The extended duration of the movie may be a deterrent to the western audience but it didn’t seem to matter to the Indian cinema aficionados who are sure to flock to Village cinemas all over Australia to see this mega-phenomenon over the next few days, if not weeks.
