Bollywood Without the Song and Dance

Bollywood loves a hybrid, so there’s nothing necessarily unusual about a comedy-adventure-romance-musical. But “99,” with bits of all those elements, mixes them up in a way that has more in common with American indies (division: hipster) than with standard Hindi-movie fare.

The story follows a pair of luckless scam artists, Sachin and Zaramud (Kunal Khemu and Cyrus Broacha), who travel to Delhi from Mumbai to collect a debt for their bookie boss. In Delhi (surprise!), there’s a girl for Sachin (Soha Ali Khan), a gambler who owes everyone money (Boman Irani) and various vivid high- and lowlifes. (Mr. Irani and Amit Mistry, as a Delhi operator, steal the show.)

Directed by the first-time feature filmmakers Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, “99” favors a kind of naturalism, both in its comedy, which is character-based rather than slapstick, and in its look. (The cinematographer, Rajeev Ravi, finds a nice balance between gritty realism and lush romanticism.)