equanimus

It is important for the film that nothing fatal happens to the kids, for instance. When it does dwell on their suffering, it is only to raise broader questions about the conditions that create the suffering and our apathy towards this kind of livelihood we quietly look past.

And this is all to say, IF viewed through this frame of reference, it is not IMO a painful watch like what most folks (well-meaning no doubt...) typically find it to be.

Stated differently, it's hard for me to imagine nearly the same effect in the portrayal of Krishna's character (his quarrels with Panjabi and touch-and-go friendship with Muthusamy) with a less graver turn of events. It is all, well, for dramatic effect.

Actually, this film more or less demands the viewer to go past the tragic events in the lives of the hero and his family. Its deeper rewards are elsewhere, I'd argue. But the stakes are made starkly higher by the dramatic events and the artifice of the fight against the villains.