'The Illegal' movie review: A sublime take on hopes, aspirations and despair

Suraj Sharma delivers a sublime performance as young Hassan, a boy who goes from being hopeful to falling into despair

Director: Danish Renzu

Cast: Suraj Sharma, Hannah Masi, Shweta Tripathi, Iqbal Theba

Score: 4 stars

Kashmiri-born director Danish Renzu's latest feature, The Illegal, is a potent take on the nature of immigration, debt traps and interpersonal relations, all swirling in a maelstrom of the hopes and dreams presented from the perspective of a middle-class Indian boy.

On the surface, The Illegal presents itself as a very hopeful sort of film through the eyes of Hassan (Suraj Sharma), a boy from Delhi who, like many Indians, is going to the USA to study. Hassan has a deep passion for filmmaking, which is evident in the prologue of the film where he tapes his family, asking them for words of inspiration.

There is a sort of happiness in the atmosphere, mixed in with the hesitation and excitement a person typically shows when going overseas, particularly to fulfill a dream like Hassan does.

But that's where the movie pulls the rug from under your feet. Shortly after reaching the USA and meeting his extended family, Hassan is put through one meat grinder after another. He is forced to earn a living himself when he leaves his uncle's home after a heated confrontation, taking up a job in a shady restaurant with a diabolical manager named Zayed Khan.

The only refuge Hassan finds is in Babaji, a veteran of the restaurant, and Jessica, a girl he meets during his work one day. Hassan and Jessica have a very nascent, almost cute romantic atmosphere going; while with Babaji, he finds a father figure to guide him through the rigours and challenges of work-life, all the while he tries to keep up with his studies, going so far as to hiding in the storage room of the restaurant where he works.

All this sounds well and good for Hassan for he has a semi-stable job, with his only real struggle being managing his study. That is where the character of Hassan is unravelled. He is young and hardworking, but immature and unlearned in the ways of the world - which leads him, more often than not, to end up in a confrontation with his coworkers and even his boss. All this while, tragedy strikes him at home, and he is all too unaware of this till it is far too late.

Suraj Sharma is not the young lad in Life of Pi here, but he is clearly channelling the character in terms of the challenges Hassan faces. He has a clear phase where he is hopeful, from where he goes to being apprehensive. And though he finds an anchor of sorts in Babaji and in Jessica, he inevitably falls into the pits of despair. Sharma's performance is a sublime form of beauty in the way he goes from a naive teenager to a lost adult.

To close, The Illegal is really a twisted take on the American dream, the idea that you can achieve your dreams in America, but not everyone will - and the difference between the two is often too blurred to see.