RRR is surely one of the biggest movies ever of Indian Cinema, both in terms of box office collections and the worldwide attention it got. Recently the film received praises from renowned Hollywood directors such as James Gunn and Scott Derickson.
The SS Rajamouli’s directorial movie is based on the British colonial era and how two young men go head to head with the British Raj against their atrocities, as show in the movie.
The movie is based on the lives of two freedom fighters of India – Alluri Seetharama Raju and Komaram Bheem. Ram Charan portrayed the role of former while Jr NTR played the role of Bheem. The movie also featured Bollywood stars like Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn.
But the portrayal of the Britishers in the movie has not gone down well with historian Robert Tombs. He wrote an entire article on UK-based publication – The Spectator last weekend with the title ‘What Netflix’s RRR Gets Wrong About The British Raj’.
He wrote in the article:
“To portray British officials and soldiers roaming the country casually committing crimes is a sign of absolute ignorance or of deliberate dishonesty.”
He further wrote that the Britishers are shown as ‘Villains’:
“We (British) have played such an important role in the world over the last few centuries that we have accumulated enemies as well as friends. In many nationalist myths, we are cast in the role of villains. It’s a way that quite a few countries make up heroic stories about themselves.”
“So films like RRR do not reveal some hidden truth about the past, nor do they express genuine popular feelings. They try to stir up synthetic emotions…Netflix should be ashamed for promoting it,” he also said while targeting the popular OTT platform for streaming the movie.
But his opinion has not impressed the netizens for obvious reasons. Here’s how the people schooled Tombs over his remarks, and reminded of him of actual atrocities and war-crimes that were committed during the British rule:
1)
The British are not just villains in movies, they’re also villains in The Real World so this is probably the most realistic part of the movie
— Heresy Ring (@ApartmentWitch) July 19, 2022
2)
Here is your Ex PM David Cameron refusing to return the looted Kohinoor Diamond, admitting "If we start returning things we took from our colonies, the whole British museum would be empty".
So save us your sanctimony on how British Rule wasn't all that bad, we know our history. https://t.co/r9aDNhevxN pic.twitter.com/LBiNyRlqPs
— Cogito (@cogitoiam) July 20, 2022
3)
You know, I think Indians are probably the best people to talk about how England treated India https://t.co/ruiM3NhYp7
— David J Bradley: Asexual Heart-throb (@DavidJBradley1) July 19, 2022
4)
Aww did the bare minimum of pushback about centuries of brutal colonialization and multiple purposefully engineered famines, ethnic suppression and economic domination after independance hurt your fee-fees? https://t.co/ecZdsBU3Fu
— Big Titty Moe Girl Hal Incandenza (@Demi_theynd) July 19, 2022
5)
What RRR showed was nothing compared to what they show in 'sardar udham'. Brits were our nazis but somehow we were thought not to hate them by the institutions… pic.twitter.com/cY2uKAghIf
— Reinhard Jay (@ReinhardJay1) July 19, 2022
6)
as an English person I am confident in saying the British Empire was a horrific regime that dabbled in everything the Nazis did and more. it deserves to be remembered that way.
(also the film wasn't made by Netflix, good job doing the bare minimum research there Rob) https://t.co/ZjZMg9MtTF
— Collector of Blorbos, Dumbass of Worlds (@tainkirrahe) July 19, 2022
7)
if the british didn’t want to be seen as villains then they shouldn’t have colonised 85% of the world and they shouldn’t have made colonised people look like villains to defend their own brutal colonialism but alright https://t.co/WOqeKx4o2l
— suri (@suricidal) July 19, 2022
8)
the thing about british people feeling justified to complain about things like this is that they do so because they can't really imagine getting tone policed like this by their own oppressors, since the UK's entire cultural identity is already built around loving your oppressors https://t.co/psOifDjOcF
— Jack Saint (@lackingsaint) July 20, 2022
9)
I'll just leave this here. We have been too kind in the past
It's time ur country recognizes the atrocities of ur past so it does not happen again.This is our Holocaust and we have the right to shed light and make sure it's not forgotten. Watch and learn. https://t.co/Lp3cRptoN1— CinemaIndiaWorld (@Artcinemamusic) July 19, 2022
10)
They used babies as baits for crocodiles. #RRRMovie went too easy on them. https://t.co/BLAUx1PKtv pic.twitter.com/aWp43pvdh5
— Shadow (@mchellap) July 20, 2022
RRR has global countless records in the global and domestic box office collection and is continue to impress the audience both in theatres and streaming platform.