Directed by Prashant Nair                          Reviewed by Paul Sorrell 

The flyer for Umrika describes it as “a feel good movie between Slumdog Millionaire and The Lunchbox.” In reality, the film is a rather sombre depiction of Indian village and urban life in the mid-1980s that barely elicits a chortle — let alone the belly laughs associated with the current crop of “feel-good” films designed to appeal to middle-aged, middle-class audiences.

There are few if any concessions to Western tastes in Umrika’s portrayal of life in the northern Indian village of Jitvapur, a close community where one family’s business is everyone’s. For the young in all cultures such intimacy can be stifling, and we watch as the village farewells Udai, elder son of one close-knit family, as he leaves to make a new life in “Umrika” (America). When nothing is heard of him for months, his family is plunged into despair, especially his loving but overbearing mother.

Then, letters start arriving. They include weird factoids about life in the US — “bathrooms here are twice the size of our houses”  — and are illustrated with magazine clippings featuring scenes that range from the iconic (the Manhattan skyline) to the bizarre (mud wrestlers). Following his father’s tragic death, younger son Ramakant (Suraj Sharma) discovers that the letter trail was an elaborate deception conducted by his father and uncle. Desperate to console his doubly grieving mother, Rama sets out to track down his missing brother. Armed with the slender information that Udai was despatched to America by a mysterious Mr Patel, Rama sets off for the big smoke of Mumbai.

From this point, the mood of the film changes sharply as Rama becomes immersed in the hectic life of the metropolis, including its brutal underworld in which Patel proves to be a kingpin. Subplots multiply, threatening to submerge the main story line in a welter of detail. Rama is forced to grow up quickly as he battles to make a living in a hostile environment, cement personal alliances and even nurture a budding romance, all while following the trail of the elusive Udai.

This heady potpourri of urban life would make good sense if director Nair was presenting a coming-of-age story in which Rama gives up his fantasies of Umrika in order to find his real, Indian, identity. However, the film’s final scene contradicts such a reading, leaving us in a mood that is anything but uplifting. Far from being a light-hearted, exotic romp, Umrika is a complex and contradictory film that leaves many issues unresolved. See it and make up your own mind.

Published in Tui Motu InterIslands December 2015.