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Shyam Singha Roy Movie Review: Uninspiring writing blunts this big-canvas film
Nani's earnest performance as Shyam and an easygoing yet enjoyable performance as Vasu needs a mention.
Title: Shyam Singha Roy
Cast: Nani, Sai Pallavi, Krithi Shetty and others
Director: Rahul Sankrityan
Run-Time: 157 Minutes
Rating: 2.5/5
There is a passionate love-making scene between Vasu (Nani) and Kirthi (Krithi Shetty) in 'Shyam Singha Roy'. It comes with an unanticipated ending where the girl loses all interest in the action because she is disgusted. They end up not having a climax (phew!). Wish the film, too, was unexpected like the bedroom scene and, more importantly, didn't have a climax. Writer-director Rahul Sankrityan (his previous outing was Vijay Deverakonda's 'Taxiwalala') whips up a tale that is riddled with largely one-dimensional characters in spite of the fact that the core elements are meaty: Past Life Regression, timeless love, and a literary protagonist who is given to violence.
There is something uncannily similar about both Vasu and Shyam Singha Roy. It's not that both characters have been essayed by the same actor - Nani. It's that they look happier than they should. Vasu's popularity plummets to shocking depths and, inexplicably, the brightness on his face shows improvement. He is a budding filmmaker in 2021 whose career comes crashing down even before it soars. Then there is Shyam, a writer animated by Marxist ideology and a lover boy weakened by uninspiring rivals, inhabiting the Bengal of the 1970s. When he questions an age-old tradition that he alone says is problematic, the orthodox practitioners on the other side of the divide don't even think of unleashing a counter. They are speechless in front of an alleged social reformer who wouldn't have learned about the wretched Devadasi system had Mythri (Sai Pallavi as a Devadasi) not charmed him.
The course of the story is standard fare. If you haven't watched the trailer as yet, please don't. The film might work to an extent for you, at least. Those of you who have watched the trailer twice can forget about being surprised. A lot of Bollywood films, too, bombard us with revealing trailers. But some of those films keep us invested by offering layered characterizations, among others.
In the film under review, we are expected to buy into Shyam Singha Roy's social reformation crusade because he uses a typewriter, types ferociously and his Editor knows how to conceive high-sounding headlines. After a point, he is nothing more than a joyous revolutionary who smokes and throws around big names such as MS Subbulakshmi and Karl Marx.
Avinash Kolla's work is integral to the big canvas of the film. The second half takes place for the most part on sets that reflect the temple architecture, among others, of Bengal. Sanu John Verghese's cinematography is on the beam. Mickey J Meyer's background music clicks, while the songs are decent.
Nani's earnest performance as Shyam and an easygoing yet enjoyable performance as Vasu needs a mention. Krithi Shetty is overshadowed by Sai Pallavi's profound acting, especially in the song 'Pranavalaya'. Jisshnu Sengupta is more of a cardboard character, while Rahul Ravindran, Abhinav Gomatam and others don't make any impact.
