Ninth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

RRR (2022) is India’s most expensive movie at the time of its release, directed by S.S Rajamouli and starring N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan Teja are in the lead roles. The film was successful across India, which is expected coming from S.S Rajamouli who last made the Baahubali series [Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali: The Conclusion (2018)], but after its digital release on Netflix, it also won over audiences around the globe, especially in the United States. It entered the list of the top 5 films in the United States in the first week apart from being in the top 10 lists in over 60 countries. It is the only film to trend globally on Netflix for 14 consecutive weeks. These numbers are surprising when considering that America is not the film’s primary market and nor did the film’s marketing team do any promotion specifically aimed at that audience. The current research seeks to understand the reason for the film’s success outside India, more specifically in the United States by analysing the reviews of the film coming from America - both text reviews and video. The study also analyses the film itself and S.S Rajamouli’s filmography as a whole to get a better reason for the film’s success outside India.