Siddharth

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.

Hope is the poor mans bread it has been said and here you get to experience it up close and personal where it is hard to ignore and watch it turn into hopelessness and then despair and hope again. The theme of this movie is simple. You and your family see and hear from each other every day and you have no reason to question the experience until it stops for whatever reason. Then, your unique story is presented and it unfolds. If an adult goes missing, well that's one set of feelings. If a child, that's another. When we stop to even consider the possibilities of what could have happened, we are overwhelmed and inundated with the worse thoughts imaginable including organ donor, sex trade and forced labor. If you just read what I wrote and monitored your own feelings while doing so...there is your movie. Watch this for this families story while we glimpse another world of poverty, different beliefs and one thing stands out...America is the hope of the world especially when you see how others live and work

The best part of this film (and I live just 60 miles from Delhi) is that you feel like you are in the city and among its people for real, never for a second watching something by any means contrived, as if someone opened a window for you to really feel what some people, that are visible yet invisible to you, go through. I can't really say for Western audiences but it really breaks my and I'm sure my fellow compatriots heart to reflect, thanks to this film, how strongly we have internalized poverty and how the marginalized "deserve" what is in their lot. In the west poverty, I presume, is very visible, but here it is everywhere yet invisible. Beautiful, beautiful movie. Made by eyes wet at the Mumbai Film Festival.

Very good film, brilliant actors, simple but powerful script, a good story with a strong message. This is a low budget film which is an inspiration to budding filmmakers that anyone doesn't need 100 crores to showcase the talent and create a good film. Just relax and watch as it will take you away from your world while you forget about your own worries for time being and start praying for the family you are introduced to. It's equally lighthearted entertaining flick while conveying a relatively heavier message. It also conveys we don't take care of precious things until we loose them or are at the verge of loosing them. It also showcases that the life must go on despite of any major setbacks and heartbreaks. Available on Netflix!

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.