Siddharth

Siddharth is a film inspired by Canadian director Richie Mehta's (I'll Follow You Down, 2013) chance encounter in Delhi with a man who asked him for help in finding a place called Dongri. When Mehta asked what Dongri was, the man told him that it's a place where he thinks his lost son was kidnapped and sent to. Siddharth is Metha's fictional exploration surrounding the disappearance of twelve-year-old Siddharth after he was sent by his father to work in another village.

Siddharth is a suspenseful and insightful drama that explores the difficulties of life for the poor and undereducated in India. Mehta has successfully crafted a film that gives the viewers a real sense of location and family—he takes you into the Saini family's world, from living in their very small apartment to working on the busy streets of New Delhi as a chain-wallah (someone who fixes zippers). With bleak reality, Mehta shows Western viewers just how impossible life is. Siddhartha's father, Mahendra, played by Rajesh Tailang with sensitive honesty and subtly, not only doesn't own a photograph of his son, but also cannot take time off to search for him without losing money to feed his family. Despite the film's harsh realities, Mehta successfully stays clear of preaching to the audience and simply allows the film to live and breathe. Regardless of the subjects of child trafficking, family loss, and a desperate world without hope, there is an intelligently crafted sense of optimism. As an alternative to the nutrient vacant, car chase, bang-bang summer blockbusters, Siddharth is a film that is definitely worth checking out and digesting.

—John David West

I didn't feel it's a movie.. very realistic. Superb acting.. nice movie

Disappearances occur all over the world. In Hollywood films they conveniently happen to families who are talented, dynamic or rich enough to turn over heaven and earth to reunite with their lost loved ones. In Siddharth a twelve year old boy disappears from a family that collectively earns four dollars a day. In their world bus and train tickets, a hotel room or a meal apart from home, are all luxuries they cannot afford. In this true story a father sleeps on the city streets and a mother sells her only belongings in their efforts to find their son Siddharth. Relatives, the overburdened police, parents, charities and businesses are all helpful in looking for the boy and simultaneously complicit in his disappearance. There are no easy answers. While the film could use some help with cinematography, acting and depth, it is a fascinating and poignant glimpse into the underworld of India and the child disappearances that occur there.

What was the point of making this movie if you weren't going to have an ending? It's "based" on a true story, but children are disappearing all over the world. It doesn't just happen to poor, uneducated families in India.

An ending, even a tragic one about what became of the boy, would have saved this movie. It came across to me as pointless. I would have rated it lower except that the acting was very good.

What an astounding film! A grim and difficult subject - the disappearance of a child - told with such simplicity and extraordinary warmth and care. Every image of this movie breathes authenticity and avoids all the pitfalls of sensationalising and dramatising the story. No Hollywood here, no sentimentality, just deeply felt compassion and flawless attention to life on the streets of India.. Rarely have I felt a movie to be so real and humane. A great achievement and a film that will stay with me for a very long time.

This film deserves a much, much wider audience.