Alia Bhatt proved her acting prowess with her latest outing Gangubai Kathiawadi. And now her debut Telugu film is an SS Rajamouli directorial which has already got the cash registers ringing. Starring Ram Charan and Jr NTR in lead roles, RRR has been praised by critics and the audience alike. While Gangubai Kathiawadi is completely centered on Alia’s character, in RRR, the actress has a much lesser screen time.
Set in the 1920s when British rule was at its peak in India, RRR is based on the lives of Telugu freedom fighters, Alluri Seetharama Raju and Komaram Bheem who are fighting to break free from the shackles of the British empire. These two roles are played by Ram Charan and Jr NTR, respectively. The movie presents their friendship and dedication to the nation and their fight for independence.
In the movie, the Student of the Year actress essays the role of Sita, Ram Charan aka Ram’s childhood friend and love interest. Ajay Devgn and Shriya Saran, who play the role of Ram’s parents, love Sita, just like their own kid.
Ajay, who is also an officer in the British army, wants to free his community from the shackles of the British. While he lacks weapons to fight against them, he trains his people with available resources. Everything turns upside down when British soldiers attack the unarmed villagers and kill Ram’s mom and brother. In order to take revenge, Ajay wears bombs on his body and asks Ram to shoot, and sacrifices his life as a martyr. Before his death, Ajay takes a promise from Ram that he will ‘equip every village person’s hand with a weapon.’ To fulfil his promise, and to avenge the murders of his family members, Ram embarks on a journey, making another promise to Sita that he will only come back if he finds the weapons for the villagers.
In several scenes in the film, Ram is seen remembering Sita by looking at a pendant. It is only in the latter half, when Sita receives a letter telling her about Ram and Bheem’s (Jr NTR) friendship, Alia is introduced. She is seen speaking to villagers as they question if Ram will ever return. She has an unbreakable trust in Ram.
Alia appears in another sequence as she travels to the city, after receiving a letter from the British government to receive his dead body after he is hanged because of protesting against the government. At the same time, Jr NTR, along with his village troop, hide, as they take Malli (the girl captured by the British) back to her home. Sita helps Bheem and his village troop by lying to the soldiers and also feeds them.
In the next sequence, Sita is asked by Bheem why she did lie and help them, to which she responds by saying that she believes in the values of her partner (Ram) who believes in helping the needy. She then narrates the whole childhood episode to Bheem, and also how Ram has helped his friend (Bheem) to free Malli from the British, and now they have decided to hang him. This makes Bheem realize that Ram is ready to sacrifice his life for good, and he promises to reunite Sita with Ram.
This is the last sequence in RRR when we see Alia. She also features in the song ‘Sholay’ in the film, which also sees Ram Charan, Jr NTR, SS Rajamouli, and Olivia Morris shaking a leg. The song is played after the movie ends.
Although she has a limited but prominent role, it makes us wonder why the actress, who had delivered commendable performances in films like Raazi and Udta Punjab, agreed to do a role that has much lesser screen time as compared to the other characters.
One important reason is that Alia, by her own confession, wished to be a part of Bahubali director SS Rajamouli’s film. In her 2019 interview with PTI, the actress shared how badly she wanted a role in RRR. She said, “I had bumped into Rajamouli sir at an airport and I begged him that whatever part he has (for me) I will do it. That time he had not cast for the girl yet."
“He said he was anyway talking about my timelines. So I told him whatever be the timeline, I will make it happen. We made it happen," she added.
At that time, Alia had probably not imagined that RRR would follow the biggest film of her career so far – Gangubai – leaving fans feeling a bit underwhelmed by her small presence in such a big film.
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