Why Fans Of Fast And Furious Will Like RRR

"RRR" is not a movie, it is a phenomenon. A maximalist cinematic experience that reminds you why movies are made in the first place, why we gather on communal halls and sit in the dark for a couple of hours while watching some moving pictures. At a time where formulaic superhero movies are designed to just sell the next thing, and the next thing, the fact that 2022 saw both "Everything Everywhere All At Once" and "RRR" exploit the maximalist filmmaking and storytelling we normally associate with superheroes but infuse them with enough bonkers ideas and heart to make even the most ridiculously over-the-top sequence feel earnest.

Tollywood superstar director S. S. Rajamouli gathers two of the biggest stars in the industry, Charan and N.T.R. Jr., for the epitome of hyperbole. A big, bombastic movie full of ludicrous set pieces, memorable characters, a masterpiece of a song, and the biggest bromance put on screen in a decade. There is something for everyone in "RRR," no matter your demographic, but fans of the ludicrous, bromance-filled, big-hearted "Fast and Furious" saga, will particularly enjoy this film.

Right from the start, "RRR" makes it clear it doesn't care about the rules of physics or any logic. This movie only follows one rule: the rule of cool. In its second scene, "RRR" introduces us to Ram Charan's A. Rama Raju, an officer working for the British Empire who takes on 400 protesters singlehandedly. Using nothing but a baton as a weapon, Raju beats the living crap of dozens of people at a time, looking incredibly cool and heroic despite working for one of the most cartoonishly evil characters in modern cinema, all while taking hundreds of punches, kicks, and rock throws without breaking a sweat. 

And that is just the beginning, "RRR" features feats of superhuman strength and power all throughout its runtime, from a man beating a tiger with his bare hands, to a bro riding on the shoulders of his best bro to form an invincible fighting machine, to the same bros jumping off a bridge to save a boy from an explosive demise with the power of friendship and incredible biceps.

Fans of the "Fast and Furious" franchise, especially the latter films, will find plenty to like with the kind of gravity-defying set pieces in "RRR." If you enjoy watching cars drop out of a plane, or racing on an icy lake, or outright going to the moon, then you'll enjoy the hell out of the way "RRR" makes every frame the coolest possible image you can see.

The thing about "RRR" is that it is not only a phenomenal action film, it also has one of the best bromances in modern cinema. From the first moment Raju and N.T.R. Jr.'s Bheem meet and they concoct a whole plan with a single glance, then share an epic handshake that's as testosterone-fueled and homoerotic as the "Predator" handshake scene. They don't just become friends, they become best bros instantly, so much so that they get a whole musical number dedicated to how good friends they are, to the activities they do together, and how they just get one another. 

There's enough homoeroticism in the film to bring to mind another great bromance movie, "Top Gun," but filtered through the eyes of the high-thrills of the "Fast and Furious" saga. You think Dom and Brian were best friends? Try seeing Raju start a whole dance fight just to give his best bro a chance to date a British lady he has a crush on, then loses said fight to Bheem when he sees her cheering for Bheem. Or try watching Bheem annihilate a whole battalion just to free his best bro from captivity, then morphing into a meat mecha to fight some soldiers. "RRR" is the pinnacle of on-screen masculinity, a throwback to '80s action stars who simply looked ripped, buffed, macho, but with the sensibility, emotion, and openness of modern-day movie bromances.

Without Brian, the "Fast and Furious" movies is severely lacking a bromance. Sure, they are family, but there is not one single, franchise-defining friendship in the most recent movies. So if you want a film with the type of stunts "Fast and Furious" does now, but with the macho bromance of its early movies, "RRR" is the film for you.

What makes "RRR" so enjoyable after several repeat viewings is how it manages to blend maximalist action and hyperbolic set pieces (whether action, musical, or simply melodramatic) with huge sincerity for the story and a roaring heart. At its heart this an earnest portrayal of friendship, of fighting imperialism, of family.

Take away the ludicrous set pieces, the over the top biceps and homoerotic undertones, and "Fast and Furious" remains a movie about family, even nine films in. The moment Roman and Tej take the rocket car and finally go to space, it is not just a hilarious moment because of the years of memes, it is also a rather emotional moment for the two characters who first appeared in 2003's "2 Fast 2 Furious" realizing they've been through so much and survived so many ordeals. Likewise, "Furious 7" gave us cars dropping out of airplanes, but it also gave us the most emotional moment in the franchise with Dom saying goodbye to Brian.

"RRR" is the encapsulation of everything that makes summer blockbuster movies enjoyable, distilled into a single, three-hour-long masterpiece. While we wait for "Fast X" to bring the franchise to a climax, there is no other movie that best encapsulates what the "Fast and Furious" franchise is about and what makes it so special than "RRR."

"RRR" is streaming in Hindi on Netflix, and in its original Tegulu language on Zee5.