Siddharth (2013) User Reviews

Siddharth: Suspenseful and Revealing

[johndavidwest20 · 7/10 · 13 August 2014]

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

No easy answers with disappearance

[Blue-Grotto · 7/10 · 15 November 2014]

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.

Beautiful, beautiful tale that will haunt you for months.

[Charolastra02 · 8/10 · 26 December 2018]

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.

Engaging simple but powerful script

[tarun208 · 9/10 · 29 May 2015]

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!

Hopelessness explored using Hope

[Richie-67-485852 · 8/10 · 10 December 2014]

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

grim, emotionally wrought tale offers some insights into life in contemporary India

[gregking4 · 7/10 · 6 October 2014]

A grim, emotionally wrought tale about a father's desperate and harrowing search for his missing son Siddharth offers some insights into life in contemporary India. Mahendra (played by Rajesh Tailang) is a chain wallah eking out a living on the teeming, crowded streets of New Delhi by fixing people's watch chains and zippers. As the family was desperate for some extra cash, he had sent his twelve year old son to a different town to work, and he never saw him again. He didn't have a photograph of his son to show police, and he didn't even know how to spell his son's name, and had no way of tracking him down. And traveling from city to another as part of the search is expensive, and Mahendra is forced to find extra work on the streets to save up for a bus fare. Tailang brings a sense of compassion to his performance as Mahendra. Apparently this story is not unique, as thousands and thousands of children go missing in India every year. Some are taken into trafficking, some into slavery, some into sexual slavery, some are taken for organs, and some are taken for indentured servitude in different countries. Siddharth is the sophomore feature film for Toronto based filmmaker Richie Mehta, who himself is of Indian descent and has a good understanding of the culture and problems facing contemporary India. His debut feature was Amal, about a rickshaw driver who inherited a fortune from one of his customers and found his life dramatically altered. Here again Mehta explores the class structure of India and shows us the disparity between the rich and the poor. But he also shows us the incredible generosity of spirit of Indians as many go out of their way to help Mahendra in his increasingly desperate and futile quest. Mehta captures the sights, the smells and the sounds of the crowded streets of New Delhi. Working closely with cinematographer Bob Gundu, who also worked with Mehta on his short film projects and experimental projects, he brings a documentary like realism to the film.

An engrossing movie

[pranjalmajumdar · 9/10 · 11 November 2018]

Excellent movie. Heart breaking story of father's quest for his lost son. Realistic portrayal of a common man by the lead actor in role of the protagonist.

Realistic- no fancy - Very nice

[nutritionalreshape · 10/10 · 11 March 2021]

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

Authentic and deeply felt.

[chinch_g · 8/10 · 30 August 2021]

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.

Good acting, bad ending

[snootsncoots · 5/10 · 28 January 2022]

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.

Lost son, will travel

[sergelamarche · 8/10 · 23 June 2018]

A strange story that exposes the many issues in India, when you are in the lower class. Following the father, we travel and see India from a commoner viewpoint. Difficult but lots of good hearts. In the end, we wonder if the son is really lost or if we saw him preferring his new life. The grandfather seems know something.