Review: Ramchand Pakistani

At the very least, Ramchand Pakistani is humane. Its heart is in the right place, touching upon a valid issue instead of just going helter-skelter in Fantasyland, writes Khalid Mohamed.

Ramchand Pakistani
Cast: Rashid Farooqi, Syed Fazal Hussain, Nandita Das
Direction: Mehreen Jabbar
Rating: **1/2

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At the very least, Ramchand Pakistani is humane. Its heart is in the right place, touching upon a valid issue instead of just going helter-skelter in Fantasyland. At the core of the story, there’s a Pakistani dalit boy (Hussain), who’s in a fit of pique crosses the border.

Inadvertently, his simpleton father (Farooqi) follows him, and the two are incarcerated in an Indian prison for five years. Technically rudimentary, the effort also falters in the in the depiction of the shallow-minded mother (Nandita Das).

It’s the boy’s fluctuating relationships with his father, the prisoners and a coquettish warden with a Sridevi fixationthat arouse your interest. To be sure, this film isn’t the league of Khuda Kay Liye, but it’s worth a try for its integrity, honesty and a story culled from real life.