Critics Campus 2020 participant Shaheen Ahmed joins ABC Radio National The Screen Show presenter Jason Di Rosso to discuss Gitanjali Rao’s Bombay Rose.

Of the film, Shaheen says:

Film and screen-culture critic Jason Di Rosso, who hosts The Screen Show weekly on ABC Radio, is my mentor for this year. After a conversation about the animated feature Bombay Rose – a unique Indian film – he invited me to share my thoughts on his show. Bombay Rose is a rare offering from the huge oeuvre of Indian cinema: rare in the sense that it is one of the few full-length animated films produced in the over-100-year-old cinema history of India that is also not based on any religious mythology.

The film stands out for its rich visual elements and references to India’s multiple visual-culture histories. Ostensibly a Bollywood romance, Bombay Rose goes beyond such usual tropes and locates itself subtly but firmly in the current sociopolitical dispensation of India.

Listen to Shaheen here (catch her from around 39:47).

Bombay Rose screened as part of the MIFF 68½ program in 2020.