The Lift Boy will make you appreciate the intent, but would seriously stop seeming realistic as it unfolds

If you are an absolute lover and follower of everything new on Netflix, you might be well aware of The Lift Boy, a Netflix original film. If not, I’ll just lay out the plot here to intrigue you into it; The Lift Boy is the story of Raju Tawade, a young Engineering student in Mumbai, who is temporary filling in for his sick father working as a Lift Operator in an apartment building. 

The film showcases his journey from being an entitled, spoilt kid, disrespectful of his parents’ jobs to learning a thing or two about hard work, empathy and more, pressing buttons in a lift.

Just like the plot goes, the film does give you a sense that it is headed at eventually making Raju realise the importance of all jobs and considering them all important in the functioning of a society as a whole, but instead the film ends up justifying his hatred towards menial jobs by making the climax a tad too dramatic in terms of financial shift.

The film is trying very hard to lure the viewer with it’s intent for the first half of the film, but sadly it isn’t enough. A story of this kind could’ve used a lot more aesthetics and lesser obvious turn of events, and most importantly, depending totally on the goodness of some characters to helm the film up.

Interestingly, the apartment he works for is named ‘Galaxy Apartments’ with expected residents like a supermodel and her family, a painter owning all three floors and a man in his mid 30s whose profession isn’t clear but he says things like “teen mahine se biwi ne kuch diya nahi and now she’s asking for diamonds”, so take a random hint.

There is some symbolism in the form of the picture of a lollipop in the lift, that is also explained, later into the film, but doesn’t quite do justice to the view of a lollipop in frame for almost the entire length of the film.

Assessing cinematically, even a naive viewer could recognize the lack of depth in Raju’s character and quite frankly, Moin Khan’s acting too. The amount of characteristics assigned to Raju, be it black,white or gray, do not come out properly owing to his visibly immature acting and portrayal.