Do Dooni Chaar

Habib Faisal's 2010 Hindi film follows a mathematics teacher and his family in Delhi. Santosh Duggal's salary barely covers things; when the family scooter breaks down a car becomes necessary, and that simple need turns into a process that tests every principle he has. The subject is not money but standing. The middle-class pressure to be seen, what gets said at weddings and how far a teacher's salary carries a family are all worked out in detail. The option of earning money through private tuition and helping students for grades forms the film's moral centre. Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh acted together for the first time in years, and their rapport gives the film warmth. The telling is unshowy; there is no large event and the resolution is modest. The film won a national award in India. Who it's for: those who like quiet Hindi drama about middle-class life. Who it's not for: viewers expecting production on a Bollywood scale; this film is small and everyday.