One thought one would scoff, instead has nothing but praise!
Helmed by Rahul Sankrityan, Shyam Singha Roy depicts the story of a young filmmaker in a soup right when he’s about to find his footing in the film industry. When he sets out to find an answer, it turns out it’s in the past. Featuring Nani, Sai Pallavi and Krithi Shetty in lead roles, the film’s most prominent feature is Sanu John Varghese’s amazing cinematography.
A clap-worthy endorsement given to the fight against untouchability and casteism, and the decrying of surreptitious female sexual slavery.
This time around, Sai Pallavi managed to get a role which garnered the attention of the audiences and needless to say, she excelled in it. The beau will be seen playing the role as a devadasi and her expressional dance moves during the Navaratri episodes are a delight to witness. All of us are aware that Sri is a person who loves dance to the maximum level and she gives the best in it here.
Nani fits the bill as the contemporary Vasu but as the yesteryear social fighter Shyam Singha Roy, he roars and soars, building a suitably legendary portrait as a classically handsome, storm-the-world-by-the collar reformer. Tiger-ferocious with the baddies(which here include most of the social strata given India’s glorious caste system) and gentle with his lady love, this lean muscular dude sporting a moustache with curved ends cuts a majestic figure as he reposes on an armchair. Krithy Shett (all of age 18 right now) is consistently winsome and promises ripe potential as a leading star.
The dialogue’s finest moment comes when Rosie (Sai Pallavi) asks Roy on a moonlit boat ride what kind of a writer he is, and he replies with a string of poetic proclamations that convey his understanding of their realities. She has been coerced into becoming a ‘Devadasi’(a servant of the Gods, who were erstwhile societal elite only to tumble in later centuries into temple prostitution). Roy, amongst other niceties, observes “spirituality has wounded you physically”.
The flick might not have a story that’s completely out of the box but the staging does have the potential to bowl you over. Barring the underwhelming aspects, give this one a chance this weekend if you’re longing for something that’s well-made and backed by stellar casts.
