How Rajamouli Uses the 3 Main Tenets of Cinema to Build A Character in RRR

(Spoilers for RRR, duh)

RRR is one of the most creative blockbuster films to have been released in recent times.

For this article, we’ll look at the magnificent intro of the character Ram, played brilliantly by Ram Charan, an officer of the British, who it is later revealed, is secretly playing his part in taking down the British Raj. As everyone knows, RRR is quite an over the top film in terms of its imagination and action sequences, particularly the bridge sequence and the final fights which involves NTR Jr’s character single handedly taking a bike. But the nature of this is not something we mock at, quite interestingly we feel more connected to the character. Let’s look at intro of Ram and how Rajamouli uses this entire sequence to set the world and the character.

Following the title card of The Fire(a major thematic metaphor for the character Ram), in the outskirts of Delhi, Indians are protesting the arrest of Lala Lajpat Rai. The Police Station is surrounded by protestors.

The station is told that it would take 7Hrs for support to reach them. Amidst this tumultuous situation, Rajamouli introduces his hero, Rama Raju.

Cinematography or Image Even from the beginning, Rajamouli frames Ram separately. When the protestors are closing to mowing down the gate, all the cops back away except for Ram, who is revealed for the first time (through fire). And then we get a brilliant shot, framing Ram as equivalent to the British Raj, as he is toe to toe with the British Official Flag, indirectly hinting to his own might.

Soon as a protestor vandalises a photo of the police station, the senior officer orders the cops to arrest the protestor, Ram gets into action as he jumps into the crowd battling crores of protestors. It is from here that we get a brilliant piece of directing and writing work as we see how Ram fights through the hordes of protestors, DP Senthil Kumar capturing this fury with handheld and as well as wide shots; the film continuously switching between the two to gives place us in the shoes of Ram and also to simultaneously convey the magnitude of the crowd. Even as he is captured by the mass of the crowd for the first time, Rajamouli keeps Ram in the centre of the frame even though he, again, switches between handheld close-ups and wides to make us feel Ram’s state while also signifying the ground reality of the situation he is stuck in. The Massive crowd as they move Ram or as Ram moves the crowd, Ram gets hit with a rock in the head, but still does not pass out or anything, setting up the over the top nature of the film. Since we now are essentially Ram ourselves i.e. we have connected with him emotionally, we want him to get up and even when he does it is not something wherein we mock the character for the unrealistic nature, but something where we root even more for the character as we want him to hit back at the protestors. As he is drowned and held tightly by the protestors, we enter into extreme close-ups, as we remain closely with Ram. Instead of the generic wide shot that we get in such situations whence the hero heroically comes out of the group of people holding him down (like in Kaithi, when Dilli frees himself by hitting the people who have held him with the metal of the velangu (cant remember the Eng Word now)), we instead are treated to a close-up of Ram for a few seconds after which we see him, retaliate as he dislodges 4-5 men……

Even as the protestor tries to escape, constant wides and gods eye view shots, continually establish his presence of mind (as he tries to climb that shack thingy) and his perseverance to capture the protestor, established by the long shot of the protestor through a POV shot of Ram, which shows the massive crowd between him and the protestor. As he climbs up the shack structure and it falls down, he skilfully lands on the attacking group and is once again held by a group. This time though the intention is not to focus on the exterior intention. As Raju is surrounded again by a group of protestors, he is now on a higher incline than before.....

Editing

Even as Ram jumps into the crowd with his lathi, we get a beautiful cut, showing us the senior cop through the crowd, as he mirrors our own dumbfounded-ness at Ram’s bravery.

The e

.….We instead see a cause and effect style and how each of his hits manages to affect the crowd holding him, again thereby establishing his physical power. As we see his hit and the impact, the cuts quicken. The first hit: hand is twisted

And then we get 2nd hit: Wide shot

3rd hit: Wide shot So as the time between each cut is cut (pun intended), we see the hit and its impact more quickly thus showing how Ram’s anger and strength is increasing.

Throughout the entire fight, we are supplied with many reaction shots of the police guys, right from the senior cop to every of the constable people, which subconsciously elevates Ram’s character.

As he climbs up a shack structure and it falls down, he skilfully lands on the attacking group and is once again held by a group. This time though the intention is not to focus on the exterior intention. As Raju is surrounded again by a group of protestors, the protestors are pushed down the incline one by one and the camera surprisingly focuses on the deaths/wounds of the protestors as they hit the rock. The intercutting of Ram’s fight with the crowd to this, helps convey the conflict that Ram’s character faces through the film.

Even when the Officer’s yearly award misses Ram, we get a beautiful shot reverse shot with British Official building, showing his own anger and ambition to reach the higher ranks.

Sound

MM Keeravani’s pulsating beats and score throughout the scene, matches the intensity of what is happening on screen with Ram. The baritone music as he escapes the crowd’s grasp, the quickly increasing fast beats to show Ram’s progression in the crowd to reach the protestor.

….. And the music, which was curiously heroic and dark too an extent, becomes more emotional highlighting a dormant feeling which could be assumed as sympathy for the protestors. But Rajamouli uses this to foreshadow Ram’s own mission revealed later in the film) and uses the music to highlight Ram’s inner conflict of hurting his own countrymen in order to free them. As he progressively captures the stone throwing protestor, the music becomes more and more emotional highlighting Ram’s bravery and nature as he finally takes the prisoner back to the station

Overall

When a subordinate tells the senior that the Mob scared him, the senior replies:

“He scares me more…”