Animation filmmaker Gitanjali Rao’s debut feature, Bombay Rose, will open the Critics’ Week section at the 76th Venice Film Festival (Aug 28-Sept 7). More than six years in the making, the 2D animation film is a love story set in Mumbai, with movies as the backdrop. The lead character, Kamala, is a garland-maker from MP who falls in love with Salim, a rose seller from Kashmir.
Rao recalls being intrigued by the romantic negotiations between flower vendors on local trains. “I noticed how their main influence in terms of romance came from Bollywood. The impact of Hindi films on the youth is huge. I felt like telling that story in a visually poetic form.” Rao studied commercial arts at the Sir JJ Institute of Applied Arts. In 1994, a retrospective of Polish animator Jerzy Kucia inspired her to take up animation. After training under Indian animation pioneer Ram Mohan, she made her first short film titled Orange, followed by Printed Rainbow (2006).
“When I started out, hand-painting was the norm. Computer-generated animation was premature. I am quite a purist in that sense; I have a lot of respect for classical forms,” says Rao, who has acted in plays and was cast as Banita Sandhu’s mother in Shoojit Sircar’s October (2018). Securing finance for a full-length project was tough, notes Rao. French company Les Films d’Ici came on board in 2013. As proof of concept, Rao made TrueLoveStory, a short film introducing characters Kamala and Salim.
In 2017, Bombay Rose was picked up by Cinestaan through the NFDC screenwriter’s lab. “In animation, your budget is always higher than a live-action film. Even if your idea is working, a producer knows he can make three live-action movies in that money.” Rao’s art style is sourced from the sociocultural backgrounds of her characters. “Kamala comes from MP, known for its miniature paintings. I also wanted to explore the truck art prevalent in Kashmir and Pakistan. So Salim hails from there.” The film makes extensive use of archival music, with one original song written by Swanand Kirkire.
“It’s easier to take a pre-existing song and animate it. One of the characters in the film is someone who danced in 1960s’ movies. So the music had to come from that era. My producers increased the budget to acquire the music I needed.”
For her performance in October, Rao was nominated for a Filmfare Award for best-supporting actress. Asked if she plans on acting more often, the filmmaker replies, “I’ve worked with Satyadev Dubey’s theatre group before. After October, I had to turn down offers to finish Bombay Rose. Now I am looking out for something interesting.”