Indian-Austrian director’s film Happy focuses on deportation of illegal immigrants

The latest film by Indian-origin Austrian filmmaker, Sandeep Kumar, explores the struggles of illegal immigrants facing deportation. ‘Happy’, shot in Vienna, features Mumbai-based actor Sahidur Rahaman in the lead role as Happy, an Indian who is denied asylum after living in Austria for over a decade.

Sandeep Kumar, who previously directed ‘Mehrunisa’, wrote and directed ‘Happy’.

The film centres on an illegal immigrant in Austria grappling with a deportation notice and his relationship with his nine-year-old daughter.

“The film is about his struggles to find happiness for himself and his daughter in the face of the prospect of being deported from Austria,” Kumar tells news agency PTI.

Happy from India is denied asylum in Austria after having lived in the country for over a decade. He ignores the deportation order, and stays on in Vienna to take care of his nine-year-old daughter, Maya, who lives in a children’s home. Exploited by the system, he works round-the-clock as a newspaper vendor and deliveryman to make ends meet, according to an Austrian film website.

Kumar revealed to PTI that the idea for the film ‘Happy’ has been with him since 2012.

“Newspaper sellers in the subways and other spaces of Vienna are mostly immigrants from the subcontinent who lead precarious lives,” Kumar was quoted as saying by PTI.

Initially, he considered making a documentary but decided on fiction after interviewing immigrants and hearing their stories.

“I felt I would be more at ease making fiction. Documentary filmmaking is not my forte,” said Kumar.

“A large number of illegal immigrants were deported from Austria in 2023. The time was ripe. I simply had to tell the story,” he added.

The film, supported by the Austrian Film Commission, is set for a festival run followed by a theatrical release later this year.

Rahaman, a Mumbai-based actor who plays the father’s role, is an alumnus of the National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi. He previously appeared in Karan Tejpal’s ‘Stolen’, which premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival last year.

For ‘Happy’, Rahaman dedicated four months to learning German.

“I had first contacted a busy Mumbai actor to play the lead role in ‘Happy’. He liked the script, but his other commitments prevented him from boarding the project. Sahidur has done an incredible job,” Kumar told PTI on the sidelines of the 77th Cannes Film Festival.