The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : ‘This film strikes where it hurts’

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Sunday, Mar 01, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

‘This film strikes where it hurts’

Intense: Rajat Kapoor in a scene from the film.

Film: Siddharth- The prisoner

Cast: Rajat Kapoor

Direction: Pryas Gupta

Here is a film that carves a new path in the realm of independent, small budget cinema. It breaks free from the feel good, feel bad multiplex experiences decked up in costumes of comedy, which were once a novelty but soon became a routine. We always thought that there were a million stories waiting to make use of the multiplex idea. Here Director Pryas Gupta lives up to the expectations. The film strikes where it hurts without taking the escapist route. Pryas slowly denude s us of all the worldly pretensions we live with, and shows us the stark reality which we all know but love to dodge.

It is the story of an author Siddharth Roy (Rajat Kapoor), who has just come out of prison. Once famous, he completes a new manuscript hoping the book will restore his reputation and help him resolve with his estranged wife. But soon destiny exhibits its quirky ways. His briefcase gets exchanged at a cyber café with a similar briefcase containing a large sum of money.

Roy loses the only copy of his new manuscript, while Mohan, the cyber café manager, comes under pressure from the underworld bosses to recover the lost money. The briefcase soon becomes a corrupting influence and we get to know what desire could make a man do. It doesn’t differentiate between the rich and the poor, the erudite and the street urchin. Pryas quietly brings out the fallibility of human nature in the face of desire without resorting to gimmicks. He puts the Rig Vedic thought on renunciation in the modern context and uses Siddharth as a sort of metaphor for the modern Buddha struggling for enlightenment.

Rajat Kapoor is effortless in the portrayal of Siddharth. He has not been given many dialogues but his body language and facial expressions are more than enough to do the trick. Newcomer Sachin Nayak strikes a chord with his portrayal of a young man imploding in the big bad world.

However, those who expect five star hotels to deliver only rich food should stay away from this 95-minute experiment. The boiled delicacies on offer will test their patience!

ANUJ KUMAR

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