“Bombay Summer” sounds like a Bollywood film, but the only singing or dancing takes place on battered LPs (good) or in a cocaine-infested nightclub (bad). Written and directed by Joseph Mathew-Varghese, who is based in New York, it’s the rare film set in India that speaks the melancholy language of the international art house.

The attractive triangle of Jaidev (Samrat Chakrabarti), a would-be writer from a wealthy family; his girlfriend, Geeta (Tannishtha Chatterjee), a design director who works in a modern office building; and Madan (Jatin Goswami), a struggling artist who supplements his income by delivering drugs, plays out a story of love, lust and beatdowns that we’ve seen many times before, in many settings. What’s different here is that Madan seduces his new friends largely by giving them access to an older, poorer (and therefore truer) India — through the vintage records he collects, the Hindi film posters he copies, the aging chawl (apartment building) where he lives and the seaside village where he grew up.

Mr. Mathew-Varghese and his cinematographer, Amol Rathod, happily aestheticize the chaos and poverty of Madan’s Mumbai, meticulously composing each new urban backdrop, and many viewers may derive quite a bit of pleasure simply from taking in the view. More damaging to the film are its beyond-deliberate pace and emotional reticence — there’s no urgency in the lovers’ shifting alliances or the dangers facing Madan, and when the inevitable reckonings arrive, it’s hard to muster much concern.

BOMBAY SUMMER

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Written and directed by Joseph Mathew-Varghese; director of photography, Amol Rathod; edited by Pallavi Singhal; music by Mathias Duplessy; art direction by Satish Chipkar; costumes by Darshan Jalan; produced by Sanjay Bhattacharjee and Mr. Mathew-Varghese; released by Katha Films. At the Big Manhattan, 239 East 59th Street. In Hindi and English, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Tannishtha Chatterjee (Geeta), Samrat Chakrabarti (Jaidev), Jatin Goswami (Madan) and Gaurav Dwivedi (Zakir).