IFFLA Review: AMAL

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles began its sixth edition last Tuesday. I attended the first edition and was very much impressed by the programming and community support. I wasn't able to attend in person this year, but I've been there in spirit. Our coverage begins, a bit late, with a review of the opening night presentation.

Imagine a fable of wealth and poverty, sifted through a melodramatic 1930s Hollywood filter, enlivened by rich performances and unexpected character development, and set in modern day New Delhi, India. That's Amal in a nutshell, but it only begins to explain the film's appeal or hint at the modest artistry that makes it so effective.

Americans don't do contentment well. We've had our DNA polluted with the idea that more is always better, that we should never be happy with what we have, that we must always be striving to have more materially.

Of course, that's an unfair generalization, but it helps to explain the avaricious nature of corporations -- share price and profits must increase from year to year -- and the general unhappiness of much of the population. For myself, I am shocked that I made more money than ever before last year -- still a modest amount, mind you, far below the average income for someone of my age in this country -- and yet I have only the barest of furnishings in my one-bedroom apartment and an eight-year-old car. I'm not complaining, just acknowledging that I have allowed myself to be lulled into the idea of trying to make more when, in the final analysis, it hasn't made my life substantially better, either materially or otherwise. So what's the point?

It's a hard lesson for most of us to learn, so it's easy to look at Amal (Rupinder Nagra) as a fantasy figure. He's a rickshaw driver in New Delhi, India, calmly dealing with a variety of prickly passengers who assume that all rickshaw drivers are the same -- out to rip them off. As we meet Amal, he is transporting businesswoman Pooja Seth (Koel Purie). At a traffic stop, a young girl begs for change and Pooja brushes her off. The girl sneaks around the side and steals Pooja's purse. Instantly angry, Pooja screams "thief!" but just as quickly changes her mind and tells Amal not to bother chasing after the girl, there's nothing of value in the purse. But a crime has been committed, and Amal is not the sort to stand idly by. He charges after her on a long foot chase ... and the girl ends up running into traffic and getting hit by a car.

Another distrusting passenger clambers into Amal's rickshaw the next day. By that point, we've already seen the older gentleman chastise a shop owner for getting his beverage order wrong. Actually, the old man had it wrong, but it shows his irascible nature. When he encounters Amal's calm, accepting ways, he's perplexed and intrigued, and their encounter prompts him to write something that will change the lives of the old man's brother and his two adult children.

Director Richie Mehta weaves these few strands into a colorful tapestry that is, frankly, a clear lesson on morality. Yet the tone is neither patronizing nor condescending. Mehta adapted the script with Shaun Mehta from the latter's short story, first as an 18-minute short film in 2004. What helps make the 101 minute feature version flow is the pleasant exploration of character. We learn, gradually, about Amal and his family, and in a similar fashion learn more about Pooja and the old man, G. K. Jayaram (Naseeruddin Shah), who is not the poor vagrant he appears to be, as well as Priya, the little girl thief.

Rupinder Nagra reprises his role from the short film. As a character, Amal is heroic, a sterling example of self-sacrificing nobility. In other words: he's perfect. Nagra keeps from being insufferable, though, because he conveys a humble, kind air. He never lords it over anyone. Really, he's too busy working and doing the right thing to worry about impressing anyone, which makes him incredibly refreshing. The other performances are strong and effective, especially Koel Purie as the ambitious and initially stern Pooja and Tanisha Chatterjee as the resilient Priya.

Amal gently sways to and fro without feeling like it's following a well-trodden narrative path. It is, but there's enough sidetrips and surprises to make the trip memorable.