Siddharth (Richie Mehta, 2013): Canada

Reviewed by Poya Salari. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2014.

I first heard about Siddharth during the “Breaking into industry”-panel. When the director of the film, Richie Mehta, was talking about how the film came about and the process of making the film, I was immediately interested in the story and I had to see the film. As soon as the panel ended, I went and attended a screening of Siddharth that was just about to start.

The film is set in India and tells the story of a chain-wallah named Mahendra Saini (Rajesh Tailang), a man who fixes broken zippers on the street. He sends his son away to work in order to deal with the family financial issues. When his son does not return home, Mahendra begins to think that his son has been kidnapped into child-trafficking. In order to find his son and bring him home, Mahendra leaves his wife (Tannishta Chatterjee) and daughter (Khushi Matur), and starts to travel the country.

This is a really powerful film that has a clear tone and theme to it. Richie Mehta tells the story not only through the films narrative, but also visually. The setting and locations in the film are all telling the same story, of these everyday workers that are struggling through poverty. The acting is convincing and the casting is really spot on, Rajesh Tailang’s face and facial expressions show us even more what his character is going through. The camerawork is perfect for this film, as it is handheld and it gives a documentary feeling to the film. Together with the editing and setting, this film truly has the look of a real feature documentary.

Richie Mehta really manages to set the tone and deliver the message of Siddharth, in a great way. After having seen the ending, I was sitting there appreciating the life and the circumstances that I was living in. Mr. Mehta did a great job presenting this important story, and I hope to see more feature films from him in the future.