“RRR:” Changing the Game for the Global Marketplace

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Rise Roar Revolt is the Indian movie storming Hollywood by surprise. At the start of this year, there were only a few people around the world who even recognized the existence of Tollywood, aka the Telegu film industry. Then came RRR which single-handedly put Telugu films on the global map, raved Collider: “For many people on the internet, the movie is synonymous with an emotion that describes opulence and celebration of cinema.”

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Tollywood is the name for the southern Indian film industry whose growing box-office performance has brought it in line with Mumbai’s Bollywood. Telugu is the main language and RRR features two of its biggest stars in Ram Charan and Rama Rao.

The movie itself is populist retelling of two real-life Indian revolutionaries and their battle against the British Raj. It depicts the heroes as freedom fighters against the colonial regime in the 1920s.

Its theatrical run is impressive, clocking up $170 million worldwide, including $14.5 million in North America. That gross is even more impressive since the picture has been available to stream on Netflix since May where it was among the service’s Top 10 most watched titles in America for 14 consecutive weeks. Partly propelled by strong word of mouth among Netflix users, the film was re-released theatrically just a few weeks after initial release and gradually spread to more theatres nationwide during which time it gained audiences far beyond the Indian diaspora.

Dylan Marchetti, president of the distributor Variance Films, estimates that most of the RRR ticket buyers had never before seen a production from Tollywood.

“Most new Indian movies are not marketed to American viewers beyond those who speak the film’s language, and most such films are already screened at national chains like AMC and Cinemark,” noted the New York Times.

There’s so much momentum surrounding the film that there’s even a push for it to be included in Oscars’ conversation – and not for Best Foreign Language film (the Indian Academy actually selected another picture anyway) – but for Best Picture along with Best Director for S.S. Rajamouli.

The question puzzling the US filmed entertainment industry is why?

The director himself told Collider: “Covid I’m sure was a factor. When everything got shut down, the whole world started looking into different cultures, absorbing content from different countries, in different languages.”

RRR would not be alone. Just look at the $2 billion in lifetime value that Netflix will amass from existing and future series of the South Korean satire Squid Game.

But Rajamouli is being humble. Having picked up on the film late in the day – mostly it seems to see what all the fuss is about – reviewers are raving about its epic and cinematic production values.

“RRR contains more exciting action scenes than all the Marvel movies put together,” beams John Powers at NPR. “Indeed, there's a slow-motion shot that is one of the most jaw dropping moments in the history of cinema.”

The three-hour run time isn’t deterring cinemagoers. The film’s title sequence doesn’t run until nearly 45 minutes into the story.

“It leverages its hefty runtime and captivating story to earn its big moments, and delivers with some of the most imaginative set pieces ever witnessed on the big screen,” is the verdict at National Review – which also likens the experience to a a first-time viewing of The Empire Strikes Back.

The director’s template was inspired by Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, Rajamouli revealed to Deadline, adding, “I like that film a lot. The way he enhances the drama before the action is a big influence on me.”

There’s undeniable pleasure in films like Braveheart or Gladiator of The Woman King (which was also inspired by those films) or indeed Star Wars in rooting for an underdog against an imperialist oppressor. Especially if said oppressor gets their violent comeuppance.

“Compared to a stereotypical Bollywood film, RRR is relatively light on music and romance, devoting much of its screen time to visual spectacle, gonzo action, and patriotic zeal,” notes Katie Rife of Polygon, “At its core, this is a story about people fighting for their beliefs against impossible odds. It’s about perseverance and the power of working together toward a common goal. Those themes are universally relatable — as is the giddy thrill of watching racist forces of imperial oppression get exactly what’s coming to them.”

While there are copious VFX, the old school values of a Hollywood epic are on display too, including filling the screen with hundreds of extras backed up by a crew of 700. Collider is not the only publication to note the thrill of seeing something new in the company of strangers.

“Indeed, in these days when the box-office is way down, movie chains are wobbling, and experts wonder whether the movies will even survive, RRR makes the case for returning to theaters. It reminds us that movies are always more thrilling when they're part of a collective experience, when you can share the excitement with the people around you.”

Cinematographer K.K. Senthil Kumar, ISC selected Arri Alexa LF using Signature Primes suitable for IMAX. In a first for an Indian film, RRR was also released in Dolby Cinema, a format that incorporates Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

“We still don’t have Dolby Vision theaters in India, but we thought this would be the best way to preserve the film for the future,” Senthil told the ASC.

The bulk of the film was shot in Hyderabad, Telangana, the epicenter of Tollywood. Sets were constructed at Alind Aluminum Industries Limited — an industrial complex repurposed for film production — as well as Ramoji Film City and on location in Gandipet. Some scenes were shot at President Zelensky of Ukraine’s official palace in 2021 – since Ukraine was one of the first countries to open up to filming.

“It’s a beautiful place and we had a wonderful experience shooting there,” Senthil said

The finishing work for RRR was performed in Hyderabad, at ANR Sound & Vision at Annapurna Studios, by colorist Bvr Shivakumar, who delivered a 4K master.    

Perhaps RRR’s success is as simple as it being a good story, well told. Rajamouli thinks so.

“We can all agree that, basically, a good story is a good story across the world,” he told IndieWire. “But the way the audience perceives it depends on the sensibilities of the culture and the people. I can’t pinpoint why it happened, but I would say a part of it is that Western audiences are not getting the full-blown action of [Indian] movies. Maybe Hollywood movies aren’t giving them enough of that. That’s what I gather when I look at the response.”