A Lullaby For Yellow Roses: Where Script and Sound are the Storytellers
When Cinema was conceived, most of the films that came initially were silent, where the visuals did the talking. However on the contrary, after more than a century, some films play more on ambient sound and create the desired effect on screen. Rahul Roye’s short film ‘A Lullaby For Yellow Roses’ fits well under this category.
‘A Lullaby For Yellow Roses’ follows the life of a migrant worker and his family from Eastern Uttar Pradesh in Kolkata (West Bengal), who loses his newborn daughter to infanticide. There are some moments in the film where there are no exchanges of dialogue, but the ambient sound makes the film progress as importantly as what a dialogue does. For example, there is a scene where after getting an earful from her mother-in-law (played by Uma Jhunjhunwala) for having a daughter, Beena (played by Trimala Adhikari) watches a mythological serial along with the former about a Goddess who provides a boon to the other for killing a demon. In the background, we hear children of different genders playing. Speaks a lot about the feminine power and the value of the girl child in just one scene.
In the other, we see Beena and her husband (played by Somnath Mandal) who works as a peon in a posh residential society, stealing a car for a night. Then the car is standing somewhere outside, in the middle of the rain. Here, we hear the sounds of the couple crying. In this one scene, you get the emotion as described by legendary filmmaker Charlie Chaplin about rain, where after being ‘normal’ in the day, the couple vent out their emotion about the tragedy of losing their dear girl child. It then cuts to the next day, where the couple is just back to the usual, moving ahead with their errands.
Rahul Roye (Writer and Director) in his 18-minute short film creates a solid impact where he touches upon the plight of working class migrant workers, infanticide and the narrow-mindedness of Indian society. Basing his film in Kolkata from where he actually is, he also takes hold of subtitles and production designing keeping it personal and warm. You may find the shades of old classics like ‘Do Beegha Zameen’ (1953) and ‘Paar’ (1984)
Above all, the film’s sound design (by Adeep Singh Manki and Anindit Roy) is another winner which plays well with silence and ambient sound, creating a lasting impact till the time the film ends. It adds another layer of excellence over Roye’s warm cinematic constraints.
Overall, now that it has traveled a lot to many festivals and has been qualified for the forthcoming Academy Awards, ‘A Lullaby For Yellow Roses’ is truly a beautiful and subtle tribute to pain.
Disclaimer: The above review solely illustrates the views of the writer.
