Handsome cinematography and decent performances turn this old-fashioned tale into the kind of quietly compelling drama that might once have been the preserve of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.

The setting is Kerala, India, in 1937. Englishman Henry Moores (Linus Roache) is building a future for himself and his family. He has the blithe arrogance of a man who thinks he is a master of the universe.

He treats servant TK (Rahul Bose) as an equal and believes his passionate affair with housekeeper Sajani (Nandita Das) can continue without consequences.

TK’s slow realisation of Moores’s self-serving nature coincides with his growing attraction to the movement for Indian independence.

As the plot deepens into a tale of divided loyalties and moral dilemmas, this literate, small-scale picture exerts a much stronger grip.

(Cert 12A; 98 mins)