Explained: 7  Reasons why  RRR may or may not work?

Things are  not looking too good  for  2022’s  most expensive purported  blockbuster  RRR , at least in  North India where  it stands to lose  ground  due to several  factors.Here’s  looking at  the pluses and  minuses of  one of the most expensive Indian  films ever.

1. Minus: The  Kashmir Files factor: there is no respite from the  raging storm that  Vivek Agnihotri  has created at  the  boxffice. It  is  being  hailed as  the Jai Santoshi Maa of  this millennium. Released  on August 15 alongside  Ramesh Sippy’s super-blockbuster Sholay,  Jai Santoshi Maa eventually made  more profits than Sholay. Will Kashmir Files be the Jai Santoshi Maa in  RRR’s destiny?
2. Plus:  RRR  is  one  of the most eagerly awaited  films  in  recent time. Rajamouli’s  passionate mastery of  the   language  of mythology has already been  proven in Baahubali. There  is no doubt that he  would be equally  successful at  portraying  pseudo-history  in   RRR.
3. Minus:  But  are audiences  interested in fictionalized  versions  of history any longer?  The Kashmir Files proves  the audience wants to know the truth about the past, not sugarcoated, fictionalized  song-dance-spectacle accounts  of  history.
4. Minus: The  songs and dances that have so far been  released  have been received lukewarmly  by  the  potential audience  both in the South and  in the Hindi belt. The songs  of Baahubali were also not a craze, before or after  the  film’s release.
5. Minus: NTR Jr and  Ramcharan  Teja , the two leading men of Rajamouli’s  RRR, have zero market value  outside  the South Indian  market.  In  fact Ramcharan tried his hand at a Hindi  debut in 2013’s  Zanjeer and  failed miserably. As  for  NTR Jr, his marketing team has been  circulating  false reports  of  Bollywood offers  from  A-list directors for some time now.
6. Plus:  All it takes is content, not stars, to make a  film a success. Baahubali and The Kashmir Files are two  examples  of content triumphing  over face value. If RRR is  strongly story-driven  it will work  .
7. Plus: For  the  North  Indian audience there  are Alia Bhatt and  Ajay Devgan, both fresh from the success  of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi  now ganging  up in a completely different context.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.