How director Rahul Sankrityan invested his energy in ‘Shyam Singha Roy’

Hyderabad: Filmmaker Rahul Sankrityan ventured into filmmaking without proper knowledge on how the film industry would function. He first experimented with a horror film titled ‘The End’ soon after quitting his cushy software job in 2014. His second directorial ‘Taxiwala’, starring Vijay Deverakonda, was a runaway hit. Rahul took his own sweet time to come up with ‘Shyam Singha Roy’, starring Natural Star Nani, among other stellar cast.

“Without even knowing the tricks of trade in the film business, I had experimented with ‘The End’. I’ve been pitching various subjects to film producers, often meeting them and discussing potential ideas; however, none could dare to invest in the subject that they felt was “unusual”. So, it prompted me to write a script that comes under the commercial meters of Telugu cinema. That’s how ‘Taxiwala’ came into being,” shares Rahul. “As far as Shyam Singha Roy is concerned, for obvious reasons, I had to take time to prepare a script by writer Satyadev Janga,” he adds.

The element that excited Rahul was the Bengal backdrop in a Telugu film. “The film’s central idea is not the Devadasi system; it’s just part of the character that we get to see in the story. At the same time, the lead protagonist would fight against the practice. The story sends out a subtle message in the end. The evil practice of Devadasi system had been prevalent in various States in different forms. It existed in Andhra, Odisha, Karnataka and Telangana as well. Soon after we get the base of the story, we started building characters. I utilised the lockdown time to fine-tune the script. Luckily, I found the right characters to tell my story.”

The ‘Taxiwala’ director admits that though several Telugu films have come on the template of Bengal, what makes ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ stand apart is its screenplay, the treatment and visual effects. How the characters of Vasu and Krithi Shetty are built, and why Madonna comes in, provide the thriller content. “Supernatural element and otherworldly subjects of human consciousness are vital for the story,” he adds.

‘Shyam Singha Roy’ is the first-of-its-kind film in Natural Star’s career. It’s his first period film. Director Rahul says he never imagined any other actor while building the script. “It was after watching ‘Jersey’ I felt actor Nani could pull off any character irrespective of the genre. The subtleness he brings in every emotion is what made me invest in him. I couldn’t think of any other actor for the lead in ‘Shyam Singha Roy’.

I didn’t want a hero with a six-pack body, I wanted a revolutionary figure who has a strong character, a person who has a strong literature background. That’s when I thought Nani could fill the space,” he adds.

The director says the story takes its sweet time to impress viewers, as audiences were habituated to seeing Nani in specific roles in the earlier films. That’s where he thought it should be dealt carefully, a tricky screenplay would work!

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