Rosie reborn: My quick take on Netflix’s Telegu movie “Shyam Singha Roy”
Way back in 1965, legendary actor, Dev Anand gave us an iconic movie named “Guide”. This movie had an endearing character of Rosie Marco (played by beautiful Waheeda Rahman) and needless to say she has immortalized the character of Rosie in the movie. Cut to 2022, we have another Rosie played by Sai Pallavi in a Telegu movie “Shyam Singha Roy”. No, there is no comparison between the two movies, nor do the two Rosie’s have anything in common but for the fact that both are prime movers of respective movies.
SSR is a psychological period drama with a “Madhumati” touch, I mean it has a backdrop of reincarnation. Hence the plot as such is not novel, but the way director has presented it is simply awesome. It is about a budding Telegu filmmaker (played very well by Nani) who is accused of plagiarizing a Bengali writer gets into a legal battle to prove his innocence.
Because the plot alternates between the present day and the 1960s and 1970s, the production designer has done an excellent job of re-creating the past era. The art director should be given full credit for recreating the Bengal of the 1960s. I thoroughly enjoyed the film's songs and music, especially those performed by Anurag Kulkarni (looks like he is a trained classical singer). On the performance front, Nani lives up to his reputation as a natural actor (this is my third Nani film; I became a fan after seeing V and Jersey), and his transformation from a modern-day aspiring writer/director to a Naxal-leaning revolutionary writer/publisher of the 1970s is very impressive. Sai Pallavi plays his past-life love interest, and she fits the part perfectly. The rest of the cast is also excellent (unfortunately I could recognize only handsome Jisshu Sengupta among them).
Though the plot may appear to be an 'old wine in a new bottle,' the cinematography, magical set designs, wonderful choreography, fluid storytelling, and outstanding performances elevate the SSR to a watchable product. Though it is not available in Hindi, the English subtitles are of such high quality that you will forget you are watching a Telegu film.
I can assure you like “Katon se khich kar” singing waali Rosie, this Rosie will also steal your heart.
Watch it.
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