Siddharth

Siddharth

Cast: Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Anurag Arora
Director: Richie Mehta
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 96 minutes

Synopsis: Mahendra, a down on his luck chain- wallah (a destitute worker who fixes broken zippers on the street) pulls his 12-year-old son Siddharth out of school and sends him to Delhi to illegally work in a factory in order to help support the family. When Siddharth fails to return home some weeks later, his anxious parents fear that he may have been taken by child-traffickers. Increasingly worried and desperate but with little money, few resources, and no connections, Mahendra embarks on a quest across India to find his son. In this heart-wrenching tale that shows that a parents' love for their child is beyond the bounds of country, culture, circumstances or economics, we join in the pursuit, hoping beyond hope that whatever has befallen Siddharth, he will return unharmed.

Siddharth
Release Date: 9th October, 2014
Director's Statement:

In 2010, I met a man on the streets of Delhi, who asked me for help in finding a place called 'Dongri." I asked him what it was, he told me he thought it was where his lost son was (!)

He went on to tell me his story – that he sent his 12-year-old boy away to work, and never saw him again. He believed his son was kidnapped and trafficked. After the initial shock wore off, I asked him for more details – a photograph, the spelling of his son's name. He couldn't answer any of them (being illiterate, and having never taken a picture). Since he was obliged to work every day to support his wife and daughter, all he could do was ask others for help. And he'd been doing this for over a year.

Knowing that this man didn't have the ability, nor the means, to even properly inquire about his son is an unfathomable tragedy. He barely understood why this kind of thing happens, much less how.

This film is my attempt to reconcile my extremely layered relationship with this circumstance. It's a story made up in equal parts by tragedy and optimism, and I hope what we've done here transmits even a fraction of the confusion, sorrow, helplessness, and ultimately, hope that I felt in meeting this man.

Siddharth
Release Date: 9th October, 2014