When the Telugu-language film RRR was released in India in 2022, it created waves. Moreover, not only did it make an impact in its home country, but all over the world as well, breaking streaming records on Netflix. The movie, which was directed by S.S. Rajamouli, reimagines the lives of two iconic figures and revolutionaries during the era in which India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh were colonial subjects. Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, both who were from the south-central part of India, once were active during the same time as rebels fighting against the colonial empire. RRR takes periods of their lives, before they were as famous as they are today, and imagines what would have happened if the two had met.
The movie starred some of India’s most desirable actors, including Alia Bhatt, N.T. Rama Rao Jr., and Ram Charan, among many others. While the subject and territory of colonialism remain untouched in mainstream Indian cinema, RRR directly and radically confronts its impacts through the perspective of these two characters. Its global reception is a testament to how powerful it is to seize the story from a colonizer, allowing an authentic story to shine and retell events the world may claim to already know perfectly. These are movies similar to RRR that you need to add to your watchlist next.
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5 Mughal-e-Azam
Sterling Investment Corporation
Mughal-e-Azam is a classic in Indian cinema, one that came out over 60 years ago. It would make its director, K. Asif, a wonder-hit wonder, but its leading actors — Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Madhubala — all became pioneers of post-colonial Hindi and Indian cinema. Set during the Mughal Empire period, a Prince of the Empire (Kumar) falls in love with a court dancer (Madhubala) after being sent off to serve in the war. Naturally, his father does not approve of this arrangement, leading to a different kind of war in their household. The movie was the highest-grossing and most successful movie of its time and, if adjusted for inflation, may still be the most successful Indian movie ever released — even if its historical accuracy casts doubt.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
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4 The Legend of Bhagat Singh
Tips Films
Released in 2002, The Legend of Bhagat Singh sheds light on a different revolutionary figure in Indian history. The movie is a biopic about Bhagat Singh, a youth from the Punjab region that participated in a bombing against the British colonial government. The movie traces his humble origins, as he was born in a village in modern-day Pakistan, and how, as a 12-year-old, he decided that his fate was to help liberate his people from their colonizers. He was not an advocate for the methods of other leaders like Gandhi, and, as he grew older, he decides to take destiny into his own hands.
3 In Search of Famine / Akaler Shandhane
D.K. Films
1982’s In Search of Famine begins in 1980 when a film crew arrives in a village to document the impacts of the famines that afflicted West Bengal in the 1940s. The famine was sparked because of the British fears that Japanese troops would arrive in the region after conquering nearby Burma, so wartime policies shifted, and poor Bengali residents could no longer afford basic staples. In Search of Famine uses the past and present day as a mirror to show the long-term impacts of starvation and trauma on everyday people. Even those who have not witnessed or experienced the events that sparked these behaviors suffer, while also exposing the unique situations that villages in the rural face when compared to major cities like Kolkata.
2 Sardar Udham
Rising Sun Films
Sardar Udham is a rather recent release, as it came out in 2021. The Hindi-language film is a biographical drama on the life of Udham Singh, an Indian revolutionary best known for assassinating the Governor of Punjab. This assassination was out of revenge, as the governor was responsible for a massacre of peaceful protestors in 1919. Told in a nonlinear format, Sardar Udham ventures back and forth between past and present, putting together the puzzle pieces of Udham’s life and why he became a revolutionary. Despite being released in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sardar Uhdam was a massive success and even was considered as one of India’s potential submissions for the Best Interntional Feature Film category at the Academy Awards.
1 Padmavaat
Bhansali Productions
Padmaavat was a controversial film when it first came out, as it stoked particular stereotypes about Hindus and Muslims pervasive in the Indian subcontinent, as well as how it relies on classic notions adopted by patriarchal societies in its depictions of women. Set during the 1200s, a Muslim ruler seeks to usurp the Delhi Sultanate that controlled a good portion of South Asia during the time. Deepika Padukone stars as the legendary queen Padmavati, and the incoming threat from the other invading kingdom includes a specific goal: they want this queen after hearing of her immense beauty. Although the movie is based on the epic poem Padmavat, it takes its creative liberties with accuracy and certain details, making it a visually gorgeous movie with deep flaws.
