Starring Rupinder Nagra, Koel Purie. Written by Richie Mehta, Shaun
Mehta. Directed by Richie Mehta. (14A) 104 min. Opens Aug 8.
Richie Mehta’s Delhi-shot debut is named for its hero, a benign auto-rickshaw driver (Rupinder Nagra) struggling to make ends meet yet unknowingly perched on the verge of a massive, Melvin and Howard–style windfall.
Whether or not he’ll receive it is a matter of some strenuously manufactured suspense: the story beats are predictable, but the film is at its best in between its plot points. And it’s less sentimental than you might expect given its fest-circuit crowd-pleaser reputation. The final twist, while clearly telegraphed, has some O. Henryish sting.
Nagra gives good doormat as Amal — a guy who makes pathological deference appealing — but the best performance is given by Naseeruddin Shah as a belligerent old man with well-concealed reserves of generosity. An early scene where Shah’s character is goaded into singing a traditional song by a miffed café performer unfolds as a series of grace notes.
Amal’s location shooting (by Mitch Ness) is superb, evoking a tangible sense of bustle with out resorting to jittery faux-vérité clichés. The reluctance to overemphasize that rotted old crutch “local colour” speaks to Mehta’s confidence in his material and to his film’s fetching modesty.