Bollywood/Hollywood. Directed by Deepa Mehta.
A comedy, with, as expected from the title, both singing and dancing. At his father’s deathbed, Rahul, an Indo-Canadian youth, promises to eventually marry an Indian girl.
One problem: Rahul prefers Caucasian women. After his mother’s brought a succession of “nice, suitable, Indian girls of good family” to dinner, Rahul pays a young actress to pose as his Indian fiancée – at least till the date of his sister’s wedding. Complications ensue.
Mehta directed two powerful dramas in
Earth and
Fire, and showed a deft touch with comedy in her much earlier and less amibitous
Sam and Me. Unfortunately, this latest effort falls short of standard of her other works. The pacing feels a little off, the performances flat, and the plot follows an entirely predictable path. Rahul Khanna, who was so effective (as Hassan the masseur) in
Earth (which – note,
pokerface -also stars Aamir Khan), can’t quite seem to find the right comedic balance here. (Of all the cast, Moushumi Chatterjee, a Bollywood veteran, gives the strongest performance.)
Comedy’s a highly personal thing. Perhaps I’m wrong, and this’ll be popular with movie audiences, as 1999’s
East is East was in the U.K., and
Monsoon Wedding is internationally. – I hope so. But
I didn’t find it funny.
-copywright.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home