Sing Geetham Review: A musical experiment with a message

What’s Sing Geetham About?

Pratap (Ayaan) arrives in Kubera Puram, a mining village in Andhra Pradesh, claiming to be the son of the mine owner. The co-owner of the mines and his daughter Renu (Shalini Kondepudi) are trying to sell the property to an African businessman, as the mines are no longer generating profits, and they need Pratap’s signature to complete the deal. They hire a duplicate to sign the papers, but the real son unexpectedly arrives.

Meanwhile, Gowri (Ahilya Bamroo), a village girl, deeply loves the only tree in the region and does not allow anyone to cut it down. However, the tree is eventually felled to facilitate further mining under the new agreement. Heartbroken, Gowri scolds the gods for failing to protect the tree. Miraculously, her wish is granted: the entire village loses the ability to speak and can communicate only through songs. What happens next forms the rest of the story.

Analysis

World cinema has seen classics like “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964), a musical in which songs completely replace spoken dialogue. That belonged to a different era and a different style of filmmaking. The film became famous for having every conversation sung rather than spoken.

Nearly twenty years ago, I watched the French film “Love Songs” (2007), where characters often sing as part of their conversations alongside regular dialogue, and found the approach fascinating. Now, at the age of 94, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao returns with “Sing Geetham”, another experiment in musical storytelling. For most of the film, characters sing their everyday conversations instead of speaking them, although the film begins with regular dialogue.

This is an even more daring experiment considering the tastes of today’s audiences. Contemporary viewers are accustomed to films with fewer songs, or sometimes no songs at all. They are far removed from the era of NTR and ANR films, where characters often sang padyalu as part of conversations. In that sense, “Sing Geetham” offers a genuinely novel experience for today’s Telugu audience.

The film begins like any regular drama, with characters speaking normally. About thirty minutes in, a key incident changes everything: the villagers lose their ability to speak and can communicate only through songs. From that point until the climax, barring a flashback episode, conversations unfold entirely through singing. This means nearly one-and-a-half hours of the film consists of sung conversations rather than spoken dialogue.

Since such a concept cannot be presented in a conventional manner, with multiple locations and frequent movement between settings, the story is confined largely to a single mining village. Only the people of this village sing, making the premise easier to accept. The staging often resembles a theatrical performance, with characters gathering in one place to sing or converse rather than behaving in a completely naturalistic manner.

The story carries a strong message: conserve nature, stop deforestation, and question the greed-driven mining practices that destroy the environment. This meaningful theme is conveyed through an unusual and ambitious narrative experiment.

Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, with the support of producer Nag Ashwin and a team of writers, succeeds in bringing that message across effectively. However, the film takes time to find its rhythm, and audiences may also need time to adjust to its unconventional format. As a result, the second half provides a considerably better experience than the first.

The film truly finds its emotional and narrative highs in two portions: the flashback involving Nivetha Pethuraj and the climactic sequence inside the cave.

The rest of the film largely functions as an experiment in storytelling.

A film like this can work only if the music director delivers exceptional support. Devi Sri Prasad rises to the challenge. Given that more than an hour of the film consists of continuous conversational songs, his musical arrangements are impressive. While the songs themselves may not be particularly memorable or catchy, the compositions and orchestration successfully sustain the experiment and, at several points, enhance the viewing experience. I only wished the film had at least one instantly memorable conversational song, something on the lines of Ilaiyaraaja’s “Randi Randi Dayacheyyandi” from “Rudraveena”.

Newcomers Ahilya Bamroo and Ayaan are adequate in their roles. Ahilya has an expressive face, though she occasionally overplays certain moments. Shalini Kondepudi, as the mine owner, is decent. The actor playing the African gold trader feels miscast. Nivetha Pethuraj, on the other hand, is perfectly cast and brings the required emotional weight to her role. Vijay Deverakonda’s cameo towards the end adds a few chuckles.

Among the technicians, the production designer stands out alongside Devi Sri Prasad. The film needed sharper editing and a shorter runtime.

Bottom Line: “Sing Geetham” is not a regular Telugu film. It is an experiment unlike anything Telugu cinema has attempted before. With characters singing even their everyday conversations for most of its runtime, the film offers a unique viewing experience. At 94, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao deserves appreciation for attempting such an experiment. The film also delivers a relevant message about environmental conservation. While the unconventional format and certain standout moments make it worthwhile, the narrative turns monotonous, especially the first half, and also feels lengthy.

Rating: 3/5

By Jalapathy Gudelli