Cantankerous multimillionaire Naseeruddin Shah leaves his fortune to a rickshaw driver in Amal
Amal (Rupinder Nagra), the autorickshaw driver who lends his name to the title of writer-director Richie Mehta’s feature-length debut, is a man of noble spirit and quiet dignity. The film goes to great lengths to establish his strength of character — early on, he chases down a beggar who steals a purse from one of his customers. When the thief, a young girl, runs into traffic and ends up in the hospital, Amal finds himself wracked with guilt and ends up taking care of her.
The humble driver’s inner nobility so impresses one of his passengers, a cantankerous multimillionaire named G.K. Jayaram (Naseeruddin Shah) who is not long for this world, that he revises his will at the last minute and leaves the entirety of his fortune to Amal. The trouble is, the executor of Jayaram estate has no idea where to find Amal, and the family members who have been deprived of millions are determined to make sure he remains unfound.
Though the premise sounds like it could lead to either a gritty crime drama or a madcap chase film, Amal is neither. Like the character, it’s quiet and understated, and it lets its themes and conflicts simmer. This can actually be irritating at times — certain situations beg for a more dramatic conclusion, and the ending is anticlimactic. It is entirely appropriate, though, and follows from the naturalism of the rest of the film.
Nagra delivers a wonderfully subtle performance as Amal. The character is so pure and lacking in conflict that it would be easy to play him as a caricature, a saint who floats through the seedy streets of India in a bubble of self-righteousness. Instead, Nagra plays him as perpetually weary, overworked and even a little sad. He’s never preachy nor smug; he does what he does because it’s the only thing he knows how to do.
Vik Sahay, as the film’s ostensible villain, isn’t quite so believable. From his first appearance, he is slimy and manipulative, and his character never fills in its spoiled-rich-brat outline. While this is probably the consequence of Amal’s origin as a short film, it does detract from an otherwise elegant movie. That complaint aside, Mehta’s light hand goes a long way to ensuring Amal’s success.
