Feel-Good/Feel-Bad Indian social drama, from ‘acclaimed’ writer/director Ramin Bahrani (see poster, though credits leave the adjective unsubstantiated*), comes split in the middle between Uplifting Striver Tale and Neo-Noir Capitalist Cautionary; an overloaded plate that shows Bahrani with more ambition than talent. (Echoing the character arc of our caste-bound protagonist.) Adarsh Gourav is the young go-getter, sole earner of a large indigent family. Pumped on one side to send money home to his squalid country kin, squeezed on the other by his politically connected city masters, Gourav is loyalty itself. Especially to the ‘modern’ young married couple he chauffeurs, not fully aware of just how keyed they are into a corrupt system of government bribes. Money finding its way to parties from all points on the political spectrum. But a tragedy midway in signals a sea change from subservient default mode, revealing unexpected personal ambition and a Machievellian streak to his nature. Told in not-quite linear flashback as Gourav writes himself a letter of introduction to the visiting Chinese Premier, a structural device no more convincing than his abrupt turn to the dark side, the film a ‘curate’s egg’ that resists coming together in spite of being loaded with promise & talent.
DOUBLE-BILL: *Bahrani’s last few features (not seen here) came & went in a flash. Any suggestions for that 'acclaim’ attribution welcome in COMMENTS.
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