Shyam Singha Roy - past life oppression

 

Shyam Singha Roy

Telugu, 2021

Director - Rahul Sankrityan

Stars - Nani, Sai Pallavi, Krithi Shetty, Madonna Sebastian, Rahul Ravindran, Murali Sharma, Leela Samson

Mohan's Measure ⭐

I leave the theater dumbfounded.  Is Shyam Singha Roy an art film, a supernatural thriller, a period romance, or a propaganda film?

There are certainly art elements in it, the beautiful cinematography, with its use of light sepia overtones create the perfect ambiance for a romantic flashback.  This part is exceptional.

However, there is something not quite right about the period the movie tries to portray.  the 70s were an age of bell-bottoms and polyester shirts.  The khakis and cotton shirts worn in the movie take us back to the 40s and 50s, as do the motorcycles and the less than crowded Howrah Bridge.

Okay, so now we touch on the supernatural, which comes about in a less than supernatural way, a blow to the head which makes the hero remember his past life at the most inopportune times.  We wonder if the random events, including a steamy scene between Nani and Ms. Shetty, are really worth an hour of movie time.  But, hey the director has nearly three hours to kill, so why not appeal to the lowest common denominator?

The past life he remembers is about his being the title character, a trouble-making social reformer who falls in love with a devadasi, kills a womanizing Brahmin priest, and is inspired to write a series of books that would change the face of India forever.  But, just what he writes and how it changes people is skimmed over; we are never quite presented with just how this man is a hero other than the fanfare BGM which shouts out his name.

We find ourselves wanting to shout out questions to fill in the holes in the film in the hope we can understand the movie better.  But, perhaps the director can only answer this in another life.