HALF TICKET

To a person with very little, the simplest things can be treasures. And so it is for two young brothers living in poverty in the slums of Mumbai. With their father in jail, the boys collect coal along railroad tracks to help their mother keep a meager household. When a pizza chain opens nearby, the idea of being able to afford this wondrous new food becomes the boys’ obsession. But even though the boys have hard-earned money, the restaurant turns them away as “slum rats” and one brother is beaten. When video of this goes viral, the boys suddenly find themselves at the center of national attention. HALF TICKET spins an unexpected magical web. With superb cinematography it conjures a world of stunning beauty from the squalor. Even amidst privation and hardship, childhood can contain wonder and hope. This deceptively simple film has the extraordinary power to evoke the world through the eyes of these children. HALF TICKET is able to make your heart ache even as it fills it with joy. (In Marathi with subtitles) —C.R.