Right after the theatrical release of S.S. Rajamouli’s period actioner ‘RRR’ in March this year, the film has garnered an unprecedented response from audiences and critics across the globe. The visually stunning movie has grossed over a whopping Rs.1200 crores at the box office until now.
From last month, ‘RRR’ reinvented its viewing pattern after it started streaming on the Netflix OTT platform globally. The action extravaganza has not just astonished US-based movie goers but has also received a big thumbs-up from several international film journalists. The craze of ‘RRR’ amongst American audiences is such that the film again received a rousing response after it was re-released in more than 100 US theatres earlier this month. And the incessant appreciation from the foreign film fraternity continues till date.
After these accolades, ‘RRR’ has now achieved the rare feat of acquiring the coveted ‘Certified Fresh’ status from globally renowned reviews aggregation portal Rotten Tomatoes. ‘RRR’ is currently certified fresh with an impressive 90% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 42 reviews. The audience score is even higher at 94%.
For an Indian movie to get a certified fresh status on Rotten Tomatoes is not a mean feat because besides ‘RRR’, there are just a handful of Indian films which have been able to do so. Few other Indian movies which are currently ‘Certified Fresh’ on Rotten Tomatoes are Aamir Khan’s Oscar-nominated drama ‘Lagaan’ (95% score), Satyajit Ray’s classic ‘Pather Panchali’ (97% score), Chaitanya Tamhane’s ‘The Disciple’ (96% score), and Irrfan Khan starrer ‘The Lunchbox’ (96% score), amongst others.
Moreover, some terrific Indian films like ‘Jai Bhim’, ‘Dangal’, ‘3 Idiots’, ‘Chak De! India’, ‘Drishyam 1 & 2’, ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, ‘Andhadhun’, ‘Mother India’, ‘Sholay’, ‘Baahubali 1 & 2’, and ‘DDLJ’ could not get the ‘Certified Fresh’ status on Rotten Tomatoes despite high critics’ score. And it’s certainly not because they are not well-made films or were not appreciated by international audiences. The probable reason is something else.
It is noteworthy that Rotten Tomatoes categorizes titles as per their in-house Tomatometer score. As per Rotten Tomatoes, ‘Certified Fresh’ are those movies that attain a minimum ‘Tomatometer’ score of 75%, which in turn, is based on a specified number of critics’ reviews.
Indian films usually do not get international/American attention and are not marketed aggressively there, and thus, apparently, they do not reach the required reviews threshold at Rotten Tomatoes. And since ‘RRR’ attracted massive global attention especially after its release on Netflix, many more critics reviewed the film on Rotten Tomatoes. Likewise, ‘RRR’ has also been also trending big time on the Auckland-based movies-centric social platform Letterboxd, most likely on similar grounds.
Helmed by S.S Rajamouli, the period action movie ‘RRR’ features Ram Charan and Jr.NTR in the lead roles and Ajay Devgn, and Alia Bhatt in pivotal roles. The film is a fictional tale set in the 1920s that revolves around two legendary Indian revolutionaries namely Alluri Sitarama Raju (played by Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (played by Jr. NTR) and how they join hands (literally) against a common enemy.