English Dub Review: Bombay Rose

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Kamala and her sister Tara came to Bombay with their grandfather to escape an arranged marriage. Now they live in the big city while trying to make their living and their lives. Meanwhile, Salim has escaped a brutal scene in his hometown and is also making a way for himself. When Salim and Kamala meet, their destinies are intertwined and neither one of them will be the same by the end.

Our Take:

Bombay Rose is a little different from every other animated film you’ll find on Netflix. It’s not really due to its overarching story, which is fine but nothing groundbreaking, instead it’s because it’s the first animated film on Netflix to hail from India. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a film written, directed, and designed by one woman — can it handle the role?

The storyline itself is fairly straightforward, at least on first glance. It’s a love story set in the big city of Bombay between Salim, a guy who sells flowers, and Kamala, a girl who’s in over her head at a dance club. While the overall setup isn’t anything to write home about, there are some interesting nuances and shading to be found. Salim turns out to be stealing all those flowers he sells, and Kamala is involved with a pimp named Mike who promises her a better life if she’ll only accept his plane ticket to Dubai.

The romantic aspect of the film, while arguably the ‘main’ plot, was really the least interesting part for me. It’s thinly written and I never felt any real involvement in the success of their relationship. They hardly even speak more than two sentences to each other by the end of the film. Instead, Bombay Rose really shines when it’s focused on the characters surrounding the two stars.

Tara, Kamala’s younger sister, is the most fun to watch, as she runs through life spitting out spunky one-liners and helping a street urchin escape from the police. That urchin, named Tipu, turns out to be a right hand at repairing odds and ends, and winds up forming a partnership with the girls’ grandfather. It’s a sweet moment, almost as sweet as the ending when it’s revealed another side character has died and left a sum of money to the family.

In the end, Kamala rejects Mike’s plane ticket and chooses to stay with her family and survive in Bombay with her dreams intact. Salim, meanwhile, is killed while trying to escape from Mike when he gets hit by a car. The threadbare romance between the two leads might be storybook simple, but the ending gives everything that came before a more realistic and less rosy tint.

When it comes to the more technical aspects of the film, things are good. It may not be as beautifully animated as some others, but every frame looks like a painting and the production process took 18 months with 60 artists contributing. The dub was a bit difficult to understand in some parts, but the acting is great throughout — although Salim’s performance was my least favorite.

Bombay Roses is a unique film that brings a whole new category of animation to Netflix viewers around the world. It’s got a few thorns here and there, but overall it’s a very sweet smelling picture.