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Dance Battles
RRR is an epic bromance adventure film, Tollywood style. The hero, Bheem, is a Gond tribesman gone undercover to rescue a girl taken by the British. Ram serves the British police on a mission to track down the undercover tribesman. Unaware of each other’s adversarial roles, the two bond while rescuing a fisherboy from under a bridge where a tanker train explodes. It’s another preposterous action spectacle, an impromptu trapeze stunt where Bheem and Ram fly through, spilling fire whilst dangling from a found rope.
Flying is a common theme in Rajamouli films. “I remember having dreams of flying as a very young kid,” recalls Rajamouli. “And I remember seeing my village from a top angle. So now I wonder how did I conceive that? So I think at the base of it all, my action sequences have some kind of flying to it.”
Beyond the ludicrous action, RRR shares other elements signature to Rajamouli films: themes of loyalty, honor, and karma, expansive panoramic cinematography, sanguineous fight choreography, poignant songs, and, of course, exuberant dance numbers. Often mocked by those unfamiliar with Indian cinema, this genre is measured by the quality of their dance numbers. There’s no separation between action and musicals here, and Rajamouli is a master of the form.
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However, RRR only has two major dance sequences: an incendiary dance battle between the heroes and the Brits and a joyful end-credits dance sequence where the director himself joins in. The exhilarating dance battle is choreographed to the chart-topper “Naatu Naatu,” and its signature hook step dance went viral. Like all Indian superstars, both NTR and Charan are renowned for their dancing skills, so fans eagerly anticipated seeing them dance together.
“But the way it was woven into the RRR story is what made even the Westerners really root for them and really, really enjoy the song and dance,” says Rajamouli. He confesses that maybe someday he should try to make a film without a dance number, but that won’t happen soon. “It’s such a strong tool in racking up the audiences’ emotions that I don’t think I will let go of it easily.”
Cultural Gap
Another signature of Rajamouli’s filmmaking style is allusions to Indian classics. Ram is a reference to Lord Rama of one of India’s most beloved love stories, Ramayana, and Bheem is an allusion to Bhima from India’s other legendary epic, Mahabharata. Ram’s fiancée in the film is Sita (Alia Bhatt), as well as historically, just like in the epic Ramayana. This epic tale has been shared throughout Asia in different forms. In Ramayana, Sita is abducted by the demon Ravana and the deity Lord Rama must rescue her with the help of the magical monkey god Hanuman, who acts as a messenger while Sita is imprisoned. This is paralleled in RRR, only Bheem is the messenger, and the modern character Ram is incarcerated. It is also symbolic in RRR when Ram eventually takes a bow from a statue because within the Ramayana, Lord Rama’s bow figures prominently. As for Bheem and Mahabharata, Bhima was renowned for having the physical strength of 10,000 elephants, which is why Bheem exhibits superhuman strength throughout RRR.
