RRR
NZ release: 25 March 2022
Violence and cruelty Rated on: 21 March 2022
What’s it about?
RRR is an Indian action-drama set in 1920s India, when India was firmly under British rule. It is a fictional story about two legendary revolutionaries and their journey away from home before they started fighting for their country.
The facts
- Director S.S. Rajamouli
- Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and English languages
- Runtime 180 minutes
- The story is a fictionalised friendship between two actual Indian revolutionaries, Komaram Bheem who fought against the Nizam of Hyderabad, and Alluri Sitarama Raju who fought against the British Raj.
Why did it get this rating?
This film was classified by Te Mana Whakaatu – Classification Office.
Violence
The film and storyline involve lengthy action scenes with outlandish physical violence and gun violence. The fight scenes are over-the-top and unrealistic, making the Bheem and Raju seem almost superhuman. When characters are injured we see bloodied faces and limbs, blood spurts and occasional blood spray.
Slow motion is used liberally for drama and to highlight the violence. For example, in one scene Rama flogs Bheem repeatedly with a spiked bull whip, which causes his skin to rip and bleed.
In another scene, Rama tortures one of Bheem’s men where he hits him repeatedly across his head and knees with a baton, and in a close-up shot he breaks the man’s knuckles.
Cruelty
The British rulers are shown as entitled. They are cruel and violent, using demeaning bullying to treat locals as second class citizens. A lord teaches his soldiers not to waste bullets on Indians, encouraging them to find another way to dispose of them.
In a stylised musical number, Bheem is hit and tortured. Soldiers hold him and beat him with sticks. He is then suspended with ropes on each wrist whilst Rama stands on the back of his knees. The rope is pulled in different directions and blood soaks and pools below him.
The extensive scenes of violence with cruelty are likely to shock and disturb younger viewers.
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