Starring Venkatesh Chavan, Ayesha Mohan, and Nana Patekar. In Hindi with English subtitles. Rated PG. Opens Friday, April 3, at the Ridge Theatre

Okay, this is about poor Indian kids working to get past class restrictions. But The Pool is no Slumdog Millionaire.

The small, warmly told story—with semiprofessionals playing characters with the same or similar names—centres on Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan), an illiterate teenaged servant in the Indian resort state of Goa. (Portuguese guitar music provides hints of a former colonial life, now crumbling.) He scrubs hotel bathrooms and delivers chai or laundry, then joins younger buddy Jhangir (Jhangir Badshah) to hawk plastic bags—until, in a timely touch, bags are banned in the area.

The boys, refugees from a tiny rural village, have zero schooling or connections, and their prospects are limited. But Jhangir is savvy and industrious, and Venkatesh is a lippy dreamer who fixes on a fancy house he stumbles upon in the green hills above Panjim. Its cool, blue pool fascinates him, and he contrives to meet the owner (Bollywood star Nana Patekar, in a wonderfully low-key turn), perhaps to nab a job as gardener for the inviting place.

He’s also interested in the man’s daughter, a pretty urban brat played by former Canadian resident Ayesha Mohan (who since won a lead role in the upcoming musical Gulaal). His intentions are unclear, even to himself, but these three youngsters form a tentative family, and the vacation season leads them to choices they didn’t expect to have.

Remarkably, this graceful effort was directed by Wisconsin documentarian Chris Smith, best known for American Movie (about the world’s worst horror-film guy), and it was based on a short story set in Iowa. There’s little melodrama, and even less dancing. For The Pool’s subjects, however, the ending offers a harmonious new start.