RRR (2022)

Nominated for Best Original Song    This is everything people said about it and I am extremely disappointed it wasn't nominated for more stuff.

A corrupt colonial governor (Ray Stevenson) takes a young girl named Malli (Twinkle Sharma, which is a GREAT name) from her home because he can.  But Malli's village is under the protection of Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao, Jr.) and he is coming to get her back.  The governor places a bounty on Bheem's head, with a special prize that anyone who captures him alive will be promoted to Special Officer, an elite rank with access to the colonial armory.  A. Ram Raju (Ram Charan Teja) wants that promotion.  He has been undercover in the colonial police for a long time, working his way up the ranks in order to fulfill a promise to his father, a revolutionary.  To gain the trust of the British, he has had to do horrible things against his own people, but he is convinced the ends are worth the means.  And Bheem is just another end to exploit.  But in getting close to Bheem, Ram begins to question his methods and worry about how his goals have become clouded.

The movie takes great pains to tell you that it is fictional and that should not matter to you at all.  It is hilariously, stupidly, gloriously violent.  Almost every moment is completely over-the-top and it's the best thing.  It is Inglourious Basterds on speed.  Bheem fights a tiger.  And that's one of the tamer fights in the movie.  Oh, and to avoid any instance of possibly hurting an animal, all the creatures are CGI.  I was worried that would make it cartoony but I really respect the dedication to not risking a bunch of endangered species just for a movie.  I hope that catches on as a trend.

It is three hours long but I promise they will go by so quickly.  Yes, there is a dance number in the middle (that's what it's nominated for) and yes, it is awesome.  The one at the end is a little more national propaganda-ish but still totally worth it.

Here's the bad news:  it's only available (legally) dubbed in Hindi on Hulu and Netflix.  To get the original Telugu language version, you have to either sign up for Zee5, an Indian-centric streaming service, or torrent it.  The good news is that Zee5 is an excellent resource if you have any interest in Indian films and TV.