Shyam Singha Roy(Netflix, Telugu)
Starring Nani, Sai Pallavi, Krithi Shetty , Madonna Sebastian
Written & Directed by Rahul Sankrityan
Rating: **** ½
Apart from one fatal flaw,no make that two, Shyam Singha Roy is as flawless and passionate a love epic as I have witnessed since Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas. Please note I say, ‘witnessed’ not ‘seen’. This is the film that incites ornate poetic descriptions of simple human activities such as eating, sleeping and courtship…Eveything is done with a captivating oldworld charm that’s rare to find in cinema today.
Cinema today,reminds me of how lamely the film starts. When we first meet the film’s hero Vasudev he is a struggling filmmaker who shamelessly uses a stranger as his short-film’s leading lady, That whole epilogue with Keerthy(Krithi Shetty) falling for the struggling filmmaker is an aberration…
But wait. Don’t go away. If you do,you will miss an epic love story told in such a gloriously florid and visually rich language that you will miss the big-screen more than ever before.
I did. I have not felt so strongly about cinema-exclusion since the lockdown. Writer-director Rahul Sankrityan seems to have designed the entire film for the sake of posterity: look what you missed out on the big screen when Covid crept into your lives! Suffer, all ye locked-down souls!
This is a larger-than-life melodrama with the writing so clearly defined and packaged , it’s like watching a romance unfold in a familiar yet exciting language. As soon as Shyam Singha Roy moves into another lifetime—yes, this is a tale of reincarnation and a convincing one for a change—a kind of dramatic deliverance and a storytelling celerity kick in. You are hooked,mesmerized by the visual and emotional velocity of this unapologetic melodrama.
You wouldn’t be able to take your eyes off the sparks and flames of mutual passion between Shyam Singha Roy and the lovely Devdasi Maithrayee,played by the bewitching Sai Pallavi(more on her later) . The romance unravels in Kolkata (which means we see a painting of the Howrah Bridge in the backdrop almost every frame) in the early 1970s.
The visual imaging of the Devdasi temple is stunning, and the sexual exploitation of the young girls , devastating. They remind us of the colour of choler and rebellion in Bhansali’s cinema, which is not to say that Sankrityan copies Bhansali. There is a violence at the heart of this passionate romance that Bhansali would never dare venture into.
I wish there was more time given to the central romance between the non-showoffy social reformist Shyam Singha Roy(obviously inspired by Rajaram Mohan Roy) and Maithrayee rechistened Rosie…perhaps after Waheeda Rehman in Guide? Sai Pallavi as Maithrayee/Rosie echoes the vulnerable yet strong personality of Waheeda Rehman. Watching Sai dance I am sure even Ms Rahman would smile in approval.
Why is the film in such a hurry? Why the insecurity of losing the audiences’ interest when the brilliant writing has us by the balls right to the impassioned end? The romantic reunion at the finale is stunning in its impact.Not only because Nani and Sai Pallavi make such a fetching pair,but also because they are shot by the brilliant cinematographer Sanu John Varghese with a poetic flourish.
The performances of some of the supporting cast is admirable . But it’s the lead pair that leads the way. Whether telling his beloved about Devdasi descendents M S Subbulaxmi and Bala Saraswati or consoling her after he gets to know she can’t have children, Nani is every inch the social reformist who does what he does not to impress others but because his heart tells him to.
But it’s Sai Pallavi who steals the show. Dancing like a dream and emoting with a breeziness that again shows her to be a natural-born actor Sai’s Maithrayee evokes deep sighs in us.