Serious Men

Serious Men, streaming on Netflix, is a movie based on an eponymous book written by Manu Joseph. I am glad that I didn’t read the novel, for I would have a more critical view of the story evolving in front of me. As I haven’t read the book, this post would be more of the movie than the book. We will delve if the film has successfully captured the essence of the book.

Sudhir Mishra directs this movie. I am not a big fan of his works, and the last I watched was Khoya Khoya Chand in 2007. As for this movie, he weaves a fascinating tale with great performers. Of the performances, three performers completely dominate the screen. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Ayyan Mani, Aakshath Das as Adi Mani, and Nassar as Dr. Arvind Acharya are those three performers. Nassar, popular and widely admired in all of South India, is a surprising choice to play a critical role in a Hindi movie. With the popularity of streaming platforms and subtitling, we come across the vast talent pool in Indian films. This phenomenon, in turn, helps us see these talents in pan Indian movies. The casting is excellent, with many non-mainstream actors whose names are difficult to find out using an internet search.

In a nutshell, the movie is about a father’s quest for upward mobility in society. Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the role of the father…