Growing up in India, I saw many Slumdog Millionaire lookalikes – over-the-top, rags to riches, Bollywood stories that put you through an emotional and sensory wringer only to leave you feeling manipulated, depleted and disgruntled. The Pool is yet another film about a working class Indian hero, but any similarity to the acclaimed blockbuster ends there.

Winner of a special jury award at the 2007 Sundance Festival, The Pool revives the jaded viewer craving for an “authentic” creative experience. Fresh in perspective and Zen-like in its immediacy, the film is anything but simple, and defies easy categorization. Venketesh Chavan, an 18-year-old “room boy” in a small hotel, is the hero. Chavan (his name on and off screen) in an unlettered, non-actor, who works similar jobs as his fictional self. Eleven-year-old, Jhangir Badshah, his spunky friend (and another first-time actor) works in a restaurant. Both are trying to improve their lives through schemes like selling plastic bags in their spare time.

We see them go about their monotonous tasks – scrubbing floors, making beds, folding napkins, chopping vegetables – with surprising diligence, sharing simple meals and banter, until Chavan stumbles upon a wealthy man’s villa, complete with pristine swimming pool and lush garden, and becomes obsessed with the idea of taking a dip. The pool, which would require considerable effort in real life to maintain just so, in a tropical chaos, becomes the symbol of that other life which he can never have. It is also holds a family secret, cleverly revealed in stages by the layered script.

Chavan follows around the villa’s owner, played by a well-known Indian actor, Nana Patekar. Noting his interest in plants, he approaches Patekar at a nursery, and gets himself hired as his garden helper. He is even more fascinated by Ayesha Mohan (an up-and-coming actress) who play’s Patekar’s estranged and withdrawn daughter.  At first, both owner and daughter treat Chavan with the disregard commonly observed in the Indian middle-class towards their servants. But Chavan persists in his efforts at communication and manages to forge bonds with both.

Will Chavan’s small privileges disappear when the wealthy owners close their holiday villa and return to Mumbai? Could his circumscribed life offer any options at all? Will Jhangir be able to continue his life-giving friendship with Chavan, or will it be tarnished by jealousy? Can the yawning class gap be bridged, and to what end?

The Pool answers these questions truthfully, and with finesse. The script is based on an American short story and was transported to Panaji, capital of Goa, made famous in the 1960s by the hippies. Chris Smith, director, co-writer and cameraman (who also made American Job and American Movie), portrays the city sensitively as well. An independent American director in the cinema verité tradition, he chose to work in a language foreign to him – Hindi – but close to his main characters.

While some viewers may find The Pool’s pacing slow, I left the theatre thankful movies like this get made and distributed widely. When he was first approached for the role, Patekar was reluctant to commit. The crew showed him 45 minutes of footage that had already been shot and he agreed to do the film with the words: “This reminds me of what we used to do before we got corrupted.”

The Pool is playing at AMC Forum in Hindi with subtitles.