Siddharth

Riveting but sorrowful, Siddharth tells a peripatetic tale about a New Delhi father, Mahendra (Rajesh Tailang), who sends his 12-year-old son, Siddharth, to work for a month at a distant factory. Expecting the boy to return in time for a seasonal celebration, Mahendra and his wife and daughter are distressed when he doesn't arrive and his whereabouts cannot be traced. Siddharth is a kind of procedural in which Mahendra rallies with great difficulty the means to embark on a search for his son, encountering obstacles along the way. Chided by police for sending Siddharth into child labor, Mahendra learns that kids are often abducted in such situations, and he receives little help while trying to scour Punjab and Mumbai in an increasingly fruitless effort. Filmmaker Richie Mehta's carefully paced drama explores the consequences of economic helplessness in a society where the vulnerable are easily ensnared. Anchored by Tailang's powerful, heartbreaking performance, this is recommended. (T. Keogh)