The first look of Richie Mehta’s new film, Siddharth, is out. The film will have its premiere at the 10th edition of Venice Days Program of the Biennale.
Venice Days is a separate festival within the Venice Fest and it runs during the entire duration of the main fest (August 28-Sept. 7). Its lineup includes 12 feature films, two shorts, three special events and two special screenings.
Here’s the trailer and synopsis of the film
With Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Anurag Arora, Shobha Sharma Jassi, Geeta Agarwal Sharma, Naseeruddin Shah
India/Canada, World Premiere
Production: Poor Man’s Productions Ltd.
Mahendra works on street corners as a chain-wallah (a zipper-fixer), while his wife Suman stays at home with their two young children, twelve-year-old Siddharth and his sister. To contribute to the family budget, the boy is sent far away from home, from New Dehli to Ludhiana, where a relative has a job for him and a place to sleep. It seems like a dream come true to his father, until he realises that his son has vanished into thin air: kidnapped, perhaps, or dead. Mahendra learns how confusing the world beyond his front door really is, but that doesn´t stop him from stubbornly seeking Siddharth all over India, its cities and countryside combined. Co-written by its star and the director (who now lives in Canada), the film builds on the emotions of one man´s painful awakening, and shows a different, almost neorealist India, described with that ingredient of universal humanity that is Italian film´s gift to the world.