A thematic link can easily be made between master director Satyajit Ray and Iranian artists whose works contributed to their national film industry’s second wave such as Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi or Majid Majidi. The Indian auteur influenced many of these men, in particular Majidi, who has now made his first foray into the land of his cinematic forefather and created an odd but ultimately rewarding picture with Beyond the Clouds.

The film is set in Mumbai and is part crime thriller and part family drama. Ishaan Khattar (Shahid Kapoor’s half-brother in a wholly watchable debut performance) plays Aamir, a street-smart drug peddler with a heart of gold. His day consists of running small jobs for the local don and evading the cops at every turn. He’s the kind of guy who’ll push the police officer out of the way in order to save his best friend’s life. He’d also come and stab you if you rat on him. His sister Tara (Malvika Mohanan) works in a factory where her boss sexually assaults her. When she in turn beats him unconscious, Tara is sent to jail. There she meets several women (one played by Tannishtha Chatterjee) who similarly have had to take the law into their own hands and have been failed by the state. These portions are very topical and directly address the global rape and harassment culture (especially in the media) and people frequently coming forward to address their traumas. Aamir will stop at nothing to get his sister’s name cleared, but he unwillingly grows close to the family of her employer who don’t know why the latter — a sexual predator — is in a coma.

Despite its flaws, the Iranian filmmaker’s first film in India has a strangely compelling quality that makes you invest in its characters

For the first half hour or so, it’s hard to get into the narrative of this most unusual project. While Majidi stays true to himself and his style of filmmaking, something seems to be off. And it’s not entirely clear what that something is. Even though AR Rahman’s score brings an emotional component to each scene, the melodrama doesn’t seem to gel with picture language. The constantly moving camera and the exquisite play between light and shadow also don’t seem to fit with the aesthetics of mainstream Indian cinema. And yet, despite its flaws, this movie has a strangely compelling quality; so much so that you start to completely invest in these characters, you start rooting for them, both for Aamir on the streets of Mumbai and Tara behind bars. After a while, the aforementioned tonal shifts become irrelevant and you’re immersed in this fantastical world Majidi has created.

While the siblings are separated, two sets of surrogate families start to form. Tara starts taking care of a boy named Chhotu in prison. And Aamir gives the rapist’s family shelter in his house as they’ve travelled up from down South and have nowhere else to go. They can only speak Tamil, he can only speak Hindi, and so the only way for them to communicate is through broken English. It’s meant to be humorous and endearing but it also serves as a metaphor for India as a whole in relation to globalisation and its effects on society. With these scenes, Majidi seems to be more insightful about the country than many of its own filmmakers. And he’s got more to say about it: his follow-up project, Gold Mine, will also be set over there.

Beyond the Clouds will screen at the Inernational Film Festival of India on Nov 20.

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 26th, 2017