Shantaram

Lin Ford arrives in 1980s Bombay hoping to disappear into a new life. Shantaram follows the relationships that make that possible and the obligations that make disappearing less simple than he imagined.

Charlie Hunnam gives Lin an approachable presence, while the city and the people he meets supply much of the interest. Helping somebody can create a genuine friendship and still pull him further into circumstances he does not understand.

The adaptation of Gregory David Roberts's novel has a leisurely pace. Its strongest passages allow time with the neighbourhood and the practical business of living there. The romance and criminal plotting are less consistently persuasive, and the screen story does not cover the novel as a complete adaptation.

The setting is the best reason to consider it, particularly if an outsider trying to find a place in an unfamiliar city appeals. Tokyo Vice handles another such arrival through journalism and organised crime; Shantaram is a more romantic, wandering account of belonging and reinvention.