It’s hard to make a worthy film for children in India, where the mainstream inherently infantilises its audience. It’s not surprising then that a large section of supposed films for children that come out in India, are often trying too hard. The lack of assurance stems from a film second-guessing itself, and serving what adults presume children will like. The result, more often, are films so unbearably screechy and annoying that one has to wonder who the filmmakers were even targeting in the first place. At the very least, Kaushal Oza’s Little Thomas doesn’t have that insecurity, as it balances its protagonist’s sense of wonder with adequate padding of the gritty world of the grown-ups, which pokes holes into the fantasy.7-year-old Thomas Miranda (Hridaansh Parekh) lives with his parents Desmond (Gulshan Devaiah) and Jessie (Rasika Dugal) in Fontainhas in Goa. Fascinated by babies, Thomas hopes his parents will have another child. However, it’s unlikely to happen – as the family is financially strapped. Desmond, who inherited the Miranda bakery from his father, is too large-hearted, idealistic, and frankly too naive to run it profitably. Jessie, a piano teacher, has lost all students to a brand-new phenomenon of video games. Even though I didn’t catch the specific year the film is set in, I’m assuming it’s somewhere in the 90s, given that Gold-Spot makes a brief appearance.Initially, I found the Goan diction and the suffixes for every sentence being “man” and “stupid bugger” slightly stilted. Even actors with the prowess of Devaiah and Dugal can’t make it naturalistic enough. However, it’s also admirable how they commit to the diction, and as a result I stopped noticing it. Devaiah, especially, has a beautifully light touch here – distancing himself from the negative character shades he’s played, to perform with a child-like innocence.This idealism, however, doesn’t contradict his rage in one other scene, towards the end of the film, when he’s forced to compromise on his principles. Dugal, a reliable actor on most days, plays Jessie with a hint of resignation – someone, who has borne the burden of raising both her son and her partner for too long.Parekh does a decent job of moulding Thomas as cute, curious and silly, without making him seem petulant and entitled. It’s a tight rope characterising children, where the writer-director could have easily tipped over on the wrong side. I also enjoyed his banter with his two friends – Nigel (Hridyaansh Gokani), the always-eating, trusted sidekick, who Thomas routinely insults as ‘Fatty Bumbola’; and Murthy (Ninadh Pandit) the bespectacled wunderkind, who comes up with ‘scientific’ solutions for Thomas’ desire for a younger sibling.To complete the stereotypical Catholic-social dollhouse, a next-door neighbour called Mrs Braganza (Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal), is extremely affectionate towards Thomas, and becomes his safe haven when Desmond and Jessie’s marriage is going through stormy weather.I think the film is its weakest when it persists with the faux-scientific theory around making Thomas’s parents kiss, which they’ve been told is how kids are born. It’s mildly amusing at the start, but becomes grating as it goes on. I thought the film was its best version, when focusing on Desmond and Jessie’s curdling marriage, where the light of youth is slowly being diminished by the dissatisfaction of middle-age. I particularly liked the detail of a “cooling charge”, a nostalgic throwback for those who grew up during the 1990s and 2000s, wrestling with the morality of it.Oza uses music as a motif, especially how Desmond rebukes a carpenter for not being musical enough while repairing a chair. Also, how Oza directs wordless conversations with the help of a violin playing over Desmond and Jessie brushing their teeth. For Thomas, how they leave their toothbrushes, becomes a way to measure the temperature of their relationship.There’s the character of an elderly man called Kaalsao, working for Desmond in his bakery, who lives up to the stereotype of the lazy Goan local. The character abruptly disappears from the closing portions of the film; I would have liked to see his arc being concluded fairly.Little Thomas is a little overstretched in the last third of its 125-minute runtime, but it does something few children films are able to do in India: it lands gracefully. Like the Mirandas, even the film is trying its best. Sometimes that’s enough.*Little Thomas is playing in theatres