Twenty-six-year-old Indian writer-director Shubhashish Bhutiani’s nimble debut feature trails Rajiv (Adil Hussain) as he accompanies his dying father Daya (Lalit Behl) to Hotel Salvation, a sort of spiritual hospice on the banks of the Ganges. Guests are permitted to stay free of charge for 15 days, in the hope that they experience “salvation” in the moments before death (marijuana-laced lassi optional). If it sounds a little bit Eat Pray Love, it is – though Bhutiani keeps a fairly tight rein on former “famous writer” Daya’s divine journey, paying more attention to the knotty dynamic between father and son. In this sense, the film works more as a kind of reverse Toni Erdmann, with Rajiv finally turning off his phone and shouldering the burden of his cantankerous father. It looks beautiful too, with night-time scenes rendered in gorgeous indigo blues and deep purples, brown faces lit by warm orange lamps.
