RRR Director S.S. Rajamouli Takes Issue With How Action Scenes Are Edited In The MCU

Major movie studios churn out a few dozen action movies a year, but there's something special about "RRR." The 2022 global hit was directed by acclaimed Tollywood filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli. The director enjoys both American and Indian action films, but there's one key difference between Rajamouli's films and Hollywood superhero movies — and it all comes down to timing. 

"RRR" is a decadent fantasy. It makes use of its massive budget and puts abundance on display in almost every single frame of the film. Rajamouli's work, like much of Indian cinema, has a maximalist sensibility. In many ways, the aesthetic feels similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe — superhero movies go to theatrical extremes with fast-paced battle scenes and heavy use of CGI, such as in "Avengers: Endgame." "RRR" also employs these tactics to create a spectacle, like when Bheem and Raju fight using fire, water, and animals. It stands to reason that Rajamouli would be a fan of superhero movies since his films share so much in common with them.

"I mean, the action sequences are the reason I watch Marvel movies," the Telugu filmmaker told The New Yorker. "I get engrossed in their action set pieces — I just love them. Their quality, their ingenuity, and their visual compositions — everything is mind-bogglingly good."

Rajamouli does have one complaint to lodge with the MCU, though, and it has nothing to do with the franchise filmmaking that Scorsese famously criticized.

"[There's] one complaint I have: the editing in these sequences is too fast," the director admitted. 

"That kind of pace doesn't allow me to fully immerse myself in each shot and enjoy them completely. Sometimes you lose a semblance of who is fighting whom, who is hitting whom, and what happened. The action scenes are otherwise great, except for that one small complaint."

"RRR" is filled to the brim with action, but the three-hour film takes its time. This observation has nothing to do with runtime: "Avengers: Endgame" is just as long, but incredibly fast-paced. A lot of plot points and heated confrontations are packed into both of these movies, but only "RRR" gives the audience time to breathe between every blow.

Songs, special effects, and even slow-motion shots are used to ruminate on every moment. Characters stay suspended in the air for unbelievably long bouts of time, just so the audience has time to process that they are there. Rajamouli may have made this choice purely for clarity since he finds the fast-paced editing style in the MCU confusing, but extending these moments also supplemented the film's hyperreal qualities.

A great film relies on pacing not just during an action-packed scene but in the scenes leading up to it. Building stakes before a major battle is just as important as the battle itself, Rajamouli explained, so that the audience gets invested.

"There should be a need in the story, an emotional need, to develop a great action set piece," the director said. "What happens in the preceding scene is very important: Raju's just realized that Bheem, his close friend, is the wanted man that he's been chasing after. Now all the emotional lines of the movie are converging in one spot."

Getting the audience emotionally engaged is one thing, but keeping their attention is entirely another. Rajamouli figured that the most striking way for Bheem to fight his way onto enemy grounds would be to employ the help of captive animals.

"Once the idea of using animals came into my mind, nothing stopped me from doing all the stuff that you see in the scene," Rajamouli revealed.

Rajamouli's films share a lot of similarities with Marvel movies, but the Indian filmmaker isn't so sure that his style would be a good fit for the MCU.

"For me, I grew up on the sensibilities of Indian superheroes, Indian mythologies, Indian historicals," the "RRR" director told Deadline. "I have a very good understanding about this world. Of course, I see Marvel movies, I like 'Iron Man,' I love watching those movies. But I don't think I'm capable of directing a Marvel movie because the sensibility is slightly different."

It would be a pretty huge transition for Rajamouli to move into American filmmaking. He's been the top dog of Indian cinema for some time now, and "RRR" only sealed his fate as one of their most famous directors of all time. He's a self-proclaimed "expert" in Indian superheroes and few would dispute that claim. Marvel would certainly be a challenge for Rajamouli, but he also might feel out of his depth. Still, the "RRR" filmmaker might consider a foray into the MCU at some point, but only on one condition.

"Probably in the future [I could direct Marvel]," Rajamouli conceded. "I hope everything goes right and I bring my Indian stories, my Indian mythologies onto the level of Marvel or even more."

An Indian superhero? In an over-the-top three-hour Marvel film directed by Rajamouli? It doesn't look like it's coming any time soon, but who knows, maybe it's just what the MCU needs right now.