Gitanjali Rao's 'Bombay Rose' to premiere on Netflix, boasts 'filmy' spirit of real Bombay

Among the 17 original titles announced by OTT giant Netflix earlier this week is Gitanjali Rao's debut animation film, Bombay Rose. The film, which has toured festivals like Venice, Toronto, London, and Busan before its India premiere at the Mumbai Film Festival, features beautiful hand-painted frames that have been turned into an animation. It is a visual treat that grabs the audiences’ attention and keeps them hooked while displaying a plethora of Indian colors onscreen.

The literal colorful painting of every frame in the 2D animation and the portrayal of the mundane Indian street life is realized brilliantly by Rao in this film. The 90-minute long film is a product of six long years of conceptualization and production which is evident in the intricate details in the craft that Rao has used to tell the story. The vibrant renders successfully evoke in the audience emotions of warmth and nostalgia for the days gone by. 

Have a look at the trailer here:

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The film, screened at Mumbai Film Festival last year, captures the essence of the ‘maximum city’-- Bombay-- not by glorifying the film industry that it’s home to, but by highlighting the true flavour of reinvention that is at the core of the city. Through the characters of Kamala (voiced by Cyli Khare) and Salim (voiced by Amit Deondi) and their star-crossed love story, one would think that it is a quintessential Bollywood style story but it surprises the audience by bringing out the individual struggle to survive and cope with the seemingly vast resources that the city offers.

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Bollywood is merely a key to escape the emotional numbness that the painful existence sometimes causes. The storytelling overthrows the typical style of Bollywood cinema and borders on realism more than the fantastic and the glamourous which is synonymous with Bollywood and Bombay. The spirit of endeavor in the film is lauded by the audience as it resonates with the spirit of the city. 

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In an interview with PTI, Gitanjali Rao had shared that she wanted to explore the story of regular people whose dreams are swept away in a corner. Rao believes Mumbai is made of immigrants who are building, cleaning and running the city but never feel at home.

"Everybody in Bombay has left some place, come here and are trying to survive. A lot of stories have been told about people who make it big. But there are thousands who are not able to achieve that and they're essentially the ones who are running the city, building it, cleaning it and yet they're the ones who are marginalised or swept away in a corner. This is unfair, but this is how the city is. I felt that the beauty was not in the people who are successful, but in those who are trying to survive huge difficulties with small successes every day". 

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