The Lift Boy movie review: Jonathan Augustin tells a heartfelt story with an honest approach

There are some films you root for even if they have some flaws, you ignore them and love the story that is being told with dedication and love which is visible on screen. Raju, a young aspirant engineering student has to fill in for his ill father as the lift boy in a posh building. There, his workplace is inside a lift with an abstract painting of a lollypop which is the only bright spot in that awful claustrophobic space.

It is a slice of life film that talks about the bonds that Raju makes after getting into a job he is not supposed to be in. Yes, he does crib about it (he should) but then what he gets from it is something far more precious. There is a reason why we get attracted to such slice-of-life films, what makes these films a high point is the connection between the characters which translates on screen and indirectly connects the audience.

To talk in specific, The Lift Boy doesn’t give any character an introduction, they just enter the frame and grow on you. You get to understand them layer-by-layer and you start to know them as someone you have known for a long time. It is not about the extravaganza around the characters but the characters themselves.

A boy who has dreams, but is too lazy to chase them. Yet at the same time he understands his responsibilities. An old childless widow (Mrs D’Souza) who owns the building Raju is working in and wants this lift man’s son to be successful one day because she has looked after him as her own child. A teenage girl (Princess) who is forced by her mother to be an actor even when she doesn’t want to, befriends Raju and feels that she can talk to him freely about everything. A friend (Shaun), who is funny but is the most trustworthy and helpful friend one can ever get, is Raju’s motivator also. Raju and Shaun make a Laurel and Hardy pair together which is cute.

Showing parents who think Arts is not a field, and so wanting their son to be an engineer is another credible part of the storyline. These are the characters that form this worthy story The Lift Boy. In a conversation with Mrs D’Souza, Raju mentions his love for literature and he reads The Great Gatsbywhile in the lift. Later he develops friendship with Princess and they hang-out in the lift together. Raju has a drop in his exams and Mrs D’Souza helps him study during which they form a very good bond. By the end what happens, correctly portrays that people enter your life with a role to play and exit when it’s done, that’s life.

Now to concentrate the whole focus on his characters, debutant director Jonathan Augustin keeps the set design minimal. Be it Raju’s house in a chawl or the elite apartments in the building where Raju works. Everything has minimum furniture or props around which for sure work. Yes, there are some flaws – Mrs D’Souza learning engineering drawing over a night to teach Raju next day, Princess disappearing for a major chunk of time, the end feels a bit stretched, whereas I would have loved if it was open-ended and some more. But I ignored them because I was absorbed in the vulnerability of the screenplay and the honesty that it was portrayed with.

Looking at the camera angles and shooting techniques the film looks more suitable for the OTT platforms but the makers decided to give it a theatrical release, which is great. Not everyone will like this film but for the ones who do like it, it will stay with them for a long while.

PS: Nyla Masood who plays Mrs D’Souza has been a costume designer and this is her debut. Fine actor she is.

PPS: The director very subtly shows the fabric of the characters. Like the scene in which Princess gets some leftover food for Raju, which he declines to accept, saying that he only has fresh food.