HOTEL SALVATION

OUT 25 August / CERT pg / 102 mins director Shubhashish Bhutiani cast Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Palomi Ghosh THE HOLY GANGES city of Varanasi is full of rooming houses where the faithful go to die and 25-year-old Shubhashish Bhutiani makes an impressive directorial debut in following an ailing seventysomething and his strait-laced accountant son on a farewell pilgrimage. Touching on a range of social issues without lecturing and lacing the gently meandering action with moments of offbeat humour and warm intimacy, Bhutiani deftly captures the atmosphere of the setting and the emotions experienced by Rajiv (Hussain), as he cops flack from his wife, daughter and boss in trying to do the right thing by the miraculously rejuvenated and often unappreciative father (Behl). A simple story beautifully told.