Certainly the subject matter is compelling, i.e. the street children of Bombay. Or at least ought to be, for a variety of reasons.
But I guess that if I want to be informed about them I would prefer a straight up documentary. Or at least a movie that was sufficiently interesting to hold my attention.
Personally I found my interest waning repeatedly as the story line lagged. There was little that was really compelling other than the subject material. And the acting was acceptable but hardly riveting. The plot line was predictable -- POSSIBLE SPOILER HERE -- who did not know shortly after the brick was shown that the boy would be ripped off? And who did not know early on that the addict would die in some drug related manner? Any twists or turns at all to hold our interest in this movie? I don't recall being even mildly intrigued by one.
Still, the redeeming feature was in fact the subject material. It is a rare glimpse into the life of the street children of Bombay, and probably a dozen or more other large metropolitan areas. It's just too bad it wasn't a little more than that.
I gave it a six.
But I guess that if I want to be informed about them I would prefer a straight up documentary. Or at least a movie that was sufficiently interesting to hold my attention.
Personally I found my interest waning repeatedly as the story line lagged. There was little that was really compelling other than the subject material. And the acting was acceptable but hardly riveting. The plot line was predictable -- POSSIBLE SPOILER HERE -- who did not know shortly after the brick was shown that the boy would be ripped off? And who did not know early on that the addict would die in some drug related manner? Any twists or turns at all to hold our interest in this movie? I don't recall being even mildly intrigued by one.
Still, the redeeming feature was in fact the subject material. It is a rare glimpse into the life of the street children of Bombay, and probably a dozen or more other large metropolitan areas. It's just too bad it wasn't a little more than that.
I gave it a six.