"Amal" offers a sadly forgotten experience: catharsis. It fools the viewer who is nowadays way too much used to happy endings. This is not to say that the movie doesn't has a happy end, but it's probably not a spoiler to say that the end is very much different than one would expect. "Amal" has been criticized for being too didactic, too much centered on the moral of "poor people with rich heart" but I think there are enough greyshades to save the movie from being naive. It is balanced out by having crooks on the "poor" and (although just ultimately) fair characters on the "rich" side. Apart from that, the movie abounds of memorable scenes - there were at least three scenes where I had to stop and rewind the DVD to watch them again and again, especially those with Naseeruddin Shah in the beginning. Acting is superb here and the actors do their best to fill their sometimes - let's be honest - cardboard characters with life. It shouldn't be forgotten that this is an Indian film, and Indian film culture is not really famous for tragic, character-driven movies. After "Amal", we watched a recent Bollywood hit (wife LOVES them, yuck) and the difference was unspeakable. For me, it was sickening to watch the usual dance-and-love-and-marriage rubbish, and yet this is the style of movies that Indian film industry is famous for. Shame... and no wonder that in such a world, Amal's story ends the way it does.
