‘Sing Geetham’ review: A musical fable on nature that Telugu cinema needed
At a time when Telugu cinema appears trapped in the race for pan-Indian blockbusters, with big budgets often built on thin stories, 94-year-old filmmaker Singeetham Srinivasa Rao has offered a different path. His new film Sing Geetham is a musical fantasy-drama that puts story and theme ahead of scale.
The film is built around a simple but urgent idea: the futility of human greed and the need to live in harmony with Nature. Rao has described it as a 40-year-old dream project. Music composer Devi Sri Prasad serves as the film’s backbone, giving the fantasy format its emotional weight.
Cinematographer C Ankur frames the arid landscape as one of the film’s key characters. Newcomer Ayaan plays Pratap, who arrives at the fictional village of Kuberapuram. The setting feels almost dystopian — a dusty mining settlement where a single lone tree provides shelter to villagers and travellers.
From inside that tree, as if stepping out of a children’s fairytale, newcomer Ahilya appears as Gauri. The village lives up to its name. Kuberapuram sits on gold, and its mines are coveted by local and international interests. As profiteers push for expansion, the tree comes under direct threat.
The conflict immediately echoes real-world debates. In Hyderabad, protests continue over trees near KBR National Park being felled for flyovers. Similar tensions play out across India, where green cover is sacrificed for infrastructure. A film tackling this subject could easily turn preachy. Sing Geetham avoids that by using a musical fantasy format rooted in childlike innocence. The approach makes the message entertaining and engaging, while giving Rao the audacity to defy stale box-office formulas.
The film also serves as a reminder of Rao’s enduring impact on contemporary filmmakers. Known for blending science, folklore and humanism, he proves that Telugu cinema can still take creative leaps of faith without chasing pan-India templates. With fresh faces and DSP’s music driving the narrative, Sing Geetham argues that audiences will embrace something new if it’s told with conviction.
