Bombay Rose

This animated film from India is an absolute delight for the eyes. It comes from director Gitanjali Rao, who wrote, animated, and edited the film with help from a team of 60 artists who hand-painted the film frame by frame over 18 months. That sounds like a lot, but it’s actually a pretty limited amount of time and people for an animated film this complex. It has a richness of color that’s rare even in big-studio animated films. Bombay Rose weaves a number of different love stories into its complex plot, but it primarily follows a young Hindu woman named Kamala who flees an arranged child marriage to work as a nightclub dancer in Mumbai. She falls in love with a young Muslim man named Salim, and star-crossed romance ensues. With its hand-drawn style and local flavor, it’s reminiscent of the films of Cartoon Saloon, the Irish studio behind Wolfwalkers and The Breadwinner.