Review : Maine Gandhi ko nahin maara

Posted on February 14, 2006 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B000MDH5VM” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara[/amazon_link]Rating : Above average (3.55/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Running time : 1 hr and 25 minutes
Director : Jahnu Barua
Cast : Anupam Kher, Urmila Matondkar, Rajat Kapoor, Addy, Divya Jagdale, Boman Irani, Parvin Dabbas, Waheeda Rehman, Vishwaas Pandya

MAINE GANDHI KO NAHIN MAARA : Poignant and moving, but loses impact

This film turned out to be quite different from what I’d expected, at least as far as storyline goes. From the title I’d gauged it to be about Gandhi’s assasination. However it turns out to be set in modern-day Mumbai, about a father and daughter’s relationship, and the relevance of Gandhism in modern times. Produced by Anupam Kher, the script and direction are both by Jahnu Barua.

Prof. Uttam Chaudhary (Kher) is a retured Hindi professor, living with his daughter Trisha (Urmila), and son Addy (Addy). Ronu (Kapoor) his other son, lives in America, but helps support the family financially. The professor, a man of great integrity and honesty, considered a genius in his time is slowly losing his mind, to what appears to be a curious mixture of Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. And even more strangely, he appears beset by the thought, that he has assasinated Gandhi. His home appears now to him as a jail, and he sees his children as jailors. His paranoia grows, much to the distress of his daughter, who is his one steadfast supporter, and is not willing to give up on him.

For this she switches doctors, meeting a new doctor (Dabbas) and his senior Dr. Verma (Prem Chopra). The good doctor, having tried all tacks, now resolves to try a rather radical experiment to rid the professor of his paranoia. Does he succeed ?

As I’m seeing this film, I’m wondering where it’s going, really. Because the story is different and wavers, you have no idea what to expect, or what the possible ending could be. And the ending (all that courtroom drama) stretches your imagination a bit too much, first of all as to the plausibility of the entire setup , since otherwise this film is so “real”. In hind-sight I see where all this was going and the point the director was trying to make, but me thinks that such a storyline and the required impact is more suited to the theatre than the silver screen, because a stage-play can make use of the fantastic/meta-physical, and twist reality to make a point. In a film, such flights of fancy have to have very strong sceenplays, and be mired in great direction, or else they don’t take flight. Precisely what’s happened here.

This is the big flaw in this film – it mixes the real and the fantastic to it’s own detriment. I mean, it’s all very noble to have a vision (I have tons of them, really), but if you can’t potray that vision believably, then it’s not doing much good. Thus, in this case, when it comes, the thrust is half-baked and sluggish. This film has under-currents of idealism and patriotism, although they come to the fore-front rather late. Direction could have been crisper, although acting by Kher and Urmila is very good. Rajat Kapoor and Addy also do a good job. Dabbas as the doctor has way too puffy hair, to appear a good doctor, me snidely thinks. And Prem chopra is a disaster as Dr. Verma – look pretty villainish, instead of looking saintly. I felt he was going to whip out a knife any minute, instead of spouting that doctorly dialogue.

Still, way better than the average Bollywood film, this deserves a viewing.

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Review : Shikhar

Posted on February 6, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 43 minutes
Director : John Mathew Mathan
Cast : Ajay Devgan, Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Bipasha Basu, Javed Sheikh, Sushant Singh, Farah

SHIKHAR : Holier than thou !

Although not bad by general Bollywood standards, this film is a dissapointment coming from Mathan, who directed the excellent Sarfarosh. This film is not only excessively preachy, it suffers from shallow characterization; everyone in the film is either bad/black or extremely pure/white. There are no grey shades to give depth.OK, so we have ex-businessman Vardhan (Sheikh) giving up his tycoon-dom to build an ashram near tribal-lands and turn all pious and holy. Then we have builder GG (Devagn) trying to get at the fertile lands of the ashram and surrounding areas, to build a modern township for the NRIs. But Vardhan Guruji amid mutterances of “Shubham” stands unmoved refusing to sell land, and even stopping GG by means of a court order. Having failed all methods of persuading Guruji, GG then tries influencing Guruji’s young son Jaidev (Kapoor). Jaidev is young, lacks common sense and easily falls prey to GG. So does he go against darling Dad or “friend” GG ?

Guessing the ending is left as an exercise to the reader. If you’re using more than one grey cell to think about this, you’re working too hard.

OK, for starters, let’s use our heads and not call the villain “GG”, it sounds like you’re addressing your sister ! Next let’s not pepper the film with articulations of “Shubham” or “Voila” – not only is this nauseating, it has left me supremely traumatised to the sound of either. Thirdly, let’s not do the “holier than thou” thing; besides being extremely annoying to watch, it also alienates viewers. Therefore, from the above statements we can infer that the film while having potential failed to execute on aforesaid potential, and left me snorting in disbelief and writhing in paroxysms of annoyance.

The story of the film, is well, not unbelievable but very predicatable, which kind of takes the fun out of things, me thinks. And the music is terrible. However, in it’s defense the film is qualitatively shot, and is bolstered by Devgan’s performance. Bipasha Basu and Amrita Rao remain inconsequential as the women in GG and Jaidev’s lives. Shahid is the usual : bad. Sushant Singh who was so admirably used in Sehar is truly wasted in a semi-comic (??) role. Javed Sheikh, while spouting “shudh” Hindi remains stony.

And Mathan has either lost his head or his touch.

Still, relatively better than regular Bollywood fare, this is watchable. If you have one of those anti-“Shubham” shields, keep it handy.

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Review : Rang de basanti

Posted on January 27, 2006 by amodini

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Rating : Very Good (4.25/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2006
Director : Rakeysh Ompraskash Mehra
Cast : Amir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Atul Kulkarni, Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Siddharth, Alice Patten, Anupam Kher, Kiron Kher, Waheeda Rehman, Mohan Agashe, Madhavan

RANG DE BASANTI : Cry, my beloved country !

Clearly this film is about patriotism. But what of it ? Does it exist in modern day India? Hardly ! But what little there is, is ignited in the heart’s of our protagonists, at the instigation of a foreigner, no less. Rakeysh Mehra’s second directorial venture (after the very different Aks), takes us through this awakening – when DJ, Sukhi, Karan, Aslam, Laksmi Pandey, and Sonia realise that they must change the world they live in. How they do it is pretty radical, but it makes for interesting cinema, and a lot of thought afterwards.

DJ or Daljeet (Aamir Khan), Sukhi (Joshi), Karan (Siddharth) , Aslam (Kapoor) and Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) are 5 friends who having graduated from Delhi University, hesitate to get out into the real world, and still roam the campus. Each of them is feisty and loyal. Into this group comes Sue (Alice Patten) straight from the UK, all determined to make her film on Indian freedom fighters, despite the shortage of funds. Introduced to the others by Sonia, she develops a strong bond with the rest, and especially with DJ. She persuades them to act in the film, and even woos Hindutva-vadi student party-worker Pandey to take the role of Ramprakash Bismil.

Gradually the friends ponder over their roles and the lives of the selfless freedon-fighters, and in the face of a tragedy, realise that they too, like Bhagat Singh and Azad, must take action, to ensure that their now corrupt and poverty-laden country, awakens and the guilty do not go unpunished. How they do it, makes for an engrossing second-half.

This is a “fundu” film as one of my friends said; it takes thought to make. A sensitive topic is handled wth great care. Although in places this resembles scenes from “Dil chahta hai” (the college friend camraderie), this also has the silent earnestness of “Swades”. The director portrays well the helplessness of India’s youth in the face of blatant corruption, and lawlessness. Not only do we hear sleeping patriotism rumbling, we also get to hear it and see it; it gets thrown in our faces. In DJ’s sobs “A hundred like me could die, and it would make no difference . . .”, we weep.

The fact that this film is about awakening and finding the patriot within, does not prevent the director from handling other scenes well. The viewer shares in Sonia’s happiness at being engaged to Ajay, in the friends’ light-hearted banter, and the quirks of campus life. Attention is paid to detail, the characters seem believable and have believable families and friends. They think normal and they talk normal. Music is good, with energetic numbers (Pathshala, and the title track) and slow ones which lend themselves to crafting some poetic scenes. Apt dialogues, some very polished acting, and a strong screenplay add muscle to this endearing film.

The director, through some stylish cinematography, some very funky camera angles, and great dialogues and acting succeeds in making our protagonists at once hip and sincere, thick-skinned yet sensitive, and hesitant yet courageous. He bridges the gap between the thinkers and the doers, mish-mashing together different cultures, religions, beliefs and thought processes. The binding factor in this story, is of course Sue, a determined and fair-thinking young woman played flawlessly by Alice Patten (daughter of Chris Patten, Hong Kong’s ex-governor). Where in Mangal Pandey, Amir didn’t shine too brightly, here he regains his fire and charisma to play the group’s tacit leader, punjabi-accented DJ. Atul Kulkarni ia a consummate actor, and brings to life the role of Lakshmi Pandey, the Hindu fundamentalist on campus. Soha as Sonia, acts well and fits the role of a fresh-faced youngster in love with Flt.Lieutenant. Ajay (Madhavan) of the Indian Air Force. Another very good actor – Kunal Kapoor who plays Aslam is beautifully expressive. Sharmaan Joshi as Sukhi and Sidharth as Karan also do very well. And then you have the stalwarts, the very worthy veterans, Anupam Kher, Kiron, and Mohan Agashe who even in miniscule roles, manage to leave their mark.

The film does drag a teeny-weeny bit in the middle, right before the action starts, but it more than makes up for it later. Like Swades, RDB too is a modern-day-patriotism story. If you have felt helpless anger at seeing the state of your nation, this film will make you empathise, weep, and maybe feel hope.

Cry, O beloved country!

And how I did.

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Review : Ek Ajnabee

Posted on January 3, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.5/5)
Genre : Thriller
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 22 minutes
Director : Apurva Lakhia
Cast : Amitabh Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Rucha Vaidya, Perizaad Zorabian, Raj Zutshi, Kelly Dorji, Vikram Chatwal

EK AJNABEE : Slick but slow !

The sugar-coated desi version of Denzel Washington starrer “Man on Fire”, Ek Ajnabee is an above average thriller. Direction is slick and snappy except for a few awkward scenes, and the film is presented with style and panache. Glaring problems occur because of some weak scenes, and the trite re-shaping of the story to fit the “happy ending” mould.Bachhan here is Suryaveer Singh, the angry, old man, an ex-Army commando, with a drinking problem, who’s called to Bangkok by old friend Shekhar (Rampal). Shekhar gets Singh to take up a bodyguard’s job, guarding 10 year old precocious Anamika (Rucha) daughter of wealthy couple Ravi and Nikasha (Chatwal and Zorabiyan). Singh is a crusty old fighter, who’s seen and done it all, but stil has a heart of gold. His gruff demeanor dissolves in the face of his young charge’s sweetness and innocence and the two form an affectionate bond.

Things go awry however as Anamika is kidnapped and killed and Singh takes 3 bullets. A hard-nosed fighter however, Singh resolves to take revenge, and sets out to annihilate the kidnappers with Shekhar’s help. Unravelling the crime however is like opening a Pandora’s box . . .

Amiitabh dons flashy glasses and some really smart suits to play Suryaveer Singh with aplomb. Although he doesn’t appear fighting fit (as Washington did) he does a pretty good job here. Rampal, Chatwal and Zorabiyan have smaller roles but do well too. Rucha as Anamika steals the show, with her natural performance. Model Kelly Dorji appears in a tiny (miss it if you blink) role. And Zutshi as the kidnapper has good inflexion of voice and looks passably menacing.

Although the film is good enough, it’s length and pace is tiresome; could have been shorter and tighter – especially if you’ve seen “Man on fire” as I had. Lakhia goes in for a frame-by-frame copy of “MOF” in some parts of the movie, although he does tweak it to suit desi let-the-hero-never-die tastes. Songs are good, and add to the emotional impact of the film.

Definitely worth a watch.

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Review : Home Delivery

Posted on December 28, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Poor (2/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 31 minutes
Director : Sujoy Ghosh
Cast : Vivek Oberoi, Mahima Choudhary, Ayesha Takia, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Tiku Talsania, Juhi Chawla, Arif Zakaria

HOME DELIVERY : We’d rather eat out !

And here it comes, let’s ready the crown – Home Delivery – the most boring film of 2005 ! Sujoy Ghosh’s second film after “Jhankaar Beats” – which wasn’t bad at all, this film is very dissapointing. This is a caricature of a comedy filled with two-dimensional characters, a floundering script and a sinking screenplay. And before I forget – the dialogues drove me up the wall. Here are the goods (or should I say the garbage ?) :

Sunny Chopra (Oberoi) is a writer – he is the agony uncle for a newspaper, and also writes film scripts. He lives in with his girl-friend and fiancee Jenny (Takia). Trying to meet a deadline while working from home and avoiding his editor (Juhi), Sunny sits in front of his laptop and does little work. He and Jenny make small-talk though – and what insipid small-talk it is – I went off to sleep and had to be prodded awake ! People doing nothing in a film but making some of the most inane conversations I’ve ever heard is super-boring (hint, hint dialogue writers). And Sunny and Jenny and Naani (Jenny’s nickname) ; Ughh! could the names be any more annoying ? The first rule of story-writing – make the characters names dissimilar (rhyme is not a good idea here) – avoids burn-out and trauma for the viewers.

Anyway, like most of our male desi filmi characters, Sunny baba has a little problem – he’s engaged to sweet Jenny but has the hots for Southie film bombshell Maya (Mahima). Therefore Sunny schemes to get Jenny away, for his rendezvous with Maya – she’s coming home for a date. Since Sunny doesn’t have any food at home for the date, he ends up ordering a pizza to be home-delivered. The pizza is delivered by 51 year old Michael (Irani) (here’s another annoying character) but Michael delivers more than pizza, he also provides home-spun lessons in morality for free. Sunny ofcourse is the recipient – but can Michael’s philosophy help steer him away from buxom constantly-dropping-her-pallu-Maya ?

Although the director tries to infuse comedy with Jeetendra-like dream songs, and vignettes of Sunny as a pimply teenager spouting views on girls and what-not, it doesn’t pick up the film from the abyss of flop-dom. The script and screenplay are dead as door-knobs, and as dull as dish-water, and I could go on, however in the interest of time will desist. Direction is average and the songs forgettable. The actors : Oberoi is a director’s actor, here he is unfunny and lacks comic timing. Takia comes across as a sweet babe-in-the woods, with few acting skills. Mahima is pretty snappy as the voluptous Maya. Irani is just plain boring and (makes me) nauseous, but that’s not his fault, it’s the director’s. Shukla and Talsania as Sunny’s obnoxious neighbors are loud and irritating.

There are a number of cameos by “famous” people like Abhishek Bachhan, Sunil Shetty, Karan Johar etc. But “famous” cameos here are like having having caviar when you need basic dal-roti first.

This film is an absolute DO NOT SEE. It’s a nightmare in a nutshell. I mean there is no dearth of terrible movies in Bollywood – take “Maine pyar kyun kiya”, “Kya kool hai hum”, but to make a bad AND boring film – now that takes real (lack of) talent! Ghosh should stick to making “Jhankaar Beat”-ish films. After all when you have not a funny-bone, why attempt a comedy ?

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Review : Apaharan

Posted on December 21, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.65/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 52 minutes
Director : Prakash Jha
Cast : Ajay Devgan, Bipasha Basu, Nana Patekar, Mohan Agashe, Yashpal Sharma, Ayub Khan, Mukesh Tiwari

APAHARAN : Grim reality makes interesting cinema

This is another “socially realistic” film from Prakash Jha, after Gangajal, and does have shades of Gangajal in it, in the power-packed dialogues, and the grim depiction of reality. Apaharan is the story of the Bihar kidnappings, and one honest man’s entanglement in the (comparatively) easy life of crime. Devgan plays Ajay, son of a true, country-loving and corruption-hating activist Raghuvansh Shastri (Agashe). Ajay wishes to join the police force, but is thwarted by the corrupt system. Frustrated and angry, he is slowly drawn into a life of crime, working with local mafioso Tabrez Alam (Patekar) and emerging from it seems difficult.

This is a trademark Jha film, thus interesting. Prepare yourself for depressing depictions of corruption and self-serving politicians (or you could watch the “sting” operations on TV), because this is what Jha does well – bring out the glaring underbelly of crime into the limelight. As in Gangajal, women do not figure too much in the film. There’s Bipasha, but she’s there primarily for the visual appeal, and there are no other female characters besides her. Basu plays Ajay’s going-to-be-doctor (really Basu’s too old to be playing a teen now) girlfriend who wishes to stand by him, but marries another man, when Ajay takes to crime. Besides not looking the part, Bipasha has very little to do – but she does it allright. Ayub Khan appears as Ajay’s loyal friend, who joins him in the new life of crime.

Direction is good, although the film drags a bit during the second half. Dialogues are “real” and pack a punch. The villains, as expected are odious, but well-drawn – Gaya (Yashpal Sharma), Tabrez’s right hand man is shown operating from the safety of a jail, where he is free to come and go. Patekar is his usual, psychotic self, portraying ruthless and conniving Tabrez to the hilt. Most of the actors do well, with Sharma and Agashe shining in smaller roles. Tiwari plays honest SP Khan, who is hot in pursuit of Tabrz and Ajay, and gives an effective performance. Devgan himself is very good, although he now shows his age.

All-in-all a good film. Hard-hitting and depressing – yes. But well worth your time, if you’re up for it.

Posted in drama, rating-PG13, watchable | 2 Comments

Recommended films

Posted on December 16, 2005 by amodini

Recommended films (which didn’t make it to the Top 10 )

The following films are good – they didn’t make the cut for the top 10, but 10 is such a limited number. So here are the rest :

For 2005 :

– Bunty aur Babli
– Morning raga
– Bride and prejudice
– D
– Viruddh

For 2004 and earlier :

Good old movies (more than 15 years old, in no particular order) :

    – Sitara
    – Kinara
    – Chhoti si baat
    – Abhimaan
    – Aandhi
    – Parichay
Posted in Best hindi movies | 2 Comments

Review : The Film

Posted on December 15, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Suspense
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 28 minutes
Director : Junaid Memon
Cast : Mahima Chaudhary, Sulabha Deshpande, Vivek Madan, Khalid Siddiqui, Ananya Khare, Chahat Khanna, Vaibhav Jhalani, Ravi Gosai, Naseer
Abdullah

THE FILM : Surprise suspense film !

This film started off normally enough. Just when I was begining to have my doubts about the director (seemed juvenile), and nodding off to sleep the film changed course, to become a suspense thriller. Well, not thriller exactly but close enough. The debut vehicle for 20 year old director Junaid Memon, “The Film” develops a suspense drama around the extortion racket and the Hindi film industry. It has a large cast, with a great chunk of the action going to Mahima Chaudhary. Now Ms. Chaudhary I consider to be cute, peppy, bubbly (and now aging) and a very, very average actress. Therefore you correctly surmise that she hath not the goods to carry off the part, although she makes a very brave attempt. The rest of the cast are mostly TV artistes and/or newcomers, and the poor acting shows. Direction could have been a lot tighter, the film attempting to rise to the “suspense” genre. Here are the essentials :

Sushmita Mukherjee (who else but youthfully-clad Mahima) is a struggling script-writer. She lives in a sprawling bungalow in Bombay as a paying guest of Mrs. Braganza (Sulabha Deshpande) – hey, where’s the fun without a kindly Goan mother-figure ? The other paying guests of Mrs. B are : wanna-be-director Vijay (Khaled Siddiqui), aspiring lyricist Irfan (Vivek Madan), struggling singer Nandini (Ananya Khare – remember her from “Chandni Bar” ?), wanna-be-actress Ankita (Chahat Khanna), wanna-be-actor Aditya (Vaibhav Jhalani) and aspiring-music-composer Raman (Ravi Gosai). Now all these guys are strugglers trying to get a foot-hold in the film-industry, and really all nice people although they can’t pay the rent on time. Still, they go along trying, gamboling like young people do.

Sushmita has been trying for 12 years, but has not made it, because she isn’t willing to compromise on her principles/or tweak her scripts to suit producer/director tastes. One day, in fun, her friend suggests that she make her own film, with money extorted from the film industry – she can extort using Shameem bhai’s (a well-known gangster) name. Although said in jest, Sushmita acts upon it, enlisting the help of her other PG (paying guest) friends. The extortion plan has a few hitches but the seven do manage to get the money. However, just as they are rejoicing, people start dying and dissappearing. Can they escape their mysterious nemesis and the police ?

OK, the script is a little weak – I had trouble swallowing it whole. The motive is a little unclear and the crazed killer bit has been done once too often. I have already mentioned the troubles with the direction and acting. The songs are of the listen-and-forget variety. Even so, this film keeps you interested and that’s no small feat. It has “sustaining” power – not for a large theatre maybe, but surely for a home DVD viewing.

I’d say, at least watch it once.

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Review : Hazaar chaurasi ki ma

Posted on December 9, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.75/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 1997
Running time : 2 hrs and 28 minutes
Director : Govind Nihalani
Cast : Jaya Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Nandita Das, Joy Sengupta, Seema Biswas, Milind Gunaji

HAZAAR CHAURASI KI MAA : Ponderous !

HCKM is Nihalani’s adaptation of Mahasweta Devi’s novel “Hazaar Churashir ma” (originally written in Bengali). Set in Calcutta in the early 70’s HCKM is an emotional story of a mother’s awakening to her son’s beliefs after his death. This is a well-told tale, but seems like it wants to say more, and can’t get the words across. Poignant, yes. Mind-blowing, no.Sujata Chatterjee is an upperclass Bengali woman, a bank-officer, with 4 adult children out of whom the youngest, Brati (Sengupta) is her favorite. She no longer sees eye-to-eye with her philandering husband (Kher) of many years, and their relationship now is one of aloofness and discord. She wakes up one morning from normal life to get news of Brati’s death. His body is in the police morgue, corpse number 1084. Brati was involved in the Naxalite movement and was killed in a skirmish with anti-Naxalites/policemen. His family is now called to the morgue to identify the body.

While Brati’s father (Kher) and his brother hasten to cover up Brati’s connection to the Naxal movement and prevent his name from being published in the paper, to avoid “dishonor” to the family, Sujata is plagued by pangs of guilt at not having known her son well enough, or sensed his thoughts and concerns. She tries to find out more about Brati’s beliefs and his need to join the movement. In this quest, she meets his friends, and girlfriend (Nandita Das) who is also a Naxalite. She also meets the mother (Biswas) of Somu, one of his friends and comes to know of the incident which lead to Brati and Somu and their friend’s deaths. In this process, she becomes aware of the world around her, and senses it’s hypocrisy. Gradually she steps out of her traditional boundaries, and questions the mores and customs which culture and society force on her.

One of her dialogues which caught in my mind, runs like this (don’t remember the exact words) : “Why would I not do what was expected of me ? That was what I was taught, that was how I was brought up. (They said) a woman must serve, her family, her parents, her children, always someone.”

Although the film does not offer any moments of ephiphany, it beautiful depicts the love between a mother and her son, and gives voice to some strong truths. Bachchan is an immaculate actress, and she is supported ably by Kher, Sengupta and the rest of the stellar cast. Direction is good, but the script and the narrative spine could have been tighter.

Still, highly recommended.

Posted in 2005, bollywood, drama, recommended | 4 Comments

Review : My father’s daughter

Posted on November 28, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Below average (2.75/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Director : Parul Bhatia
Cast : Parul Bhatia, Nishedu Vasavada, Suraiya Hyder, Abhay Dhir, Devadas George, Ilram Choi and Stefani Case

MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER : Good story bogged down by direction/acting

MFD is a hinglish film, (actually English) about the immigrant Indians in the US. It is the story of a family which moves from Delhi to Dallas, in the hopes of a better life. Some months down the line, the mother (Hyder) and the two children (both grown-up) have settled down, but the father (Vasavada) misses his family and India. Moreover, the other 3 have occupations, either work or school, while the father is unable to get a job. Coming from a patriarchial mind-set, he gets depressed and dejected when faced with his wife’s scorn, and takes to alcohol, and even beating his wife.

The story revolves around Tara (Bhatia) , the college-going daughter, who is desperate to help her father break-out of his depressive condition and urges her mother to be more patient and loving toward him. The Mom is shown as forward looking and progressive, and we know she loves the US (she says so), but she reacts badly to her husband’s inability to get and retain a worthwhile (in her opinion one paying more than minimum wage) job. Rohit (Dhir), the son, is shown as a wastrel in the earlier part of the film, although later they inject him with some sense. Things continue, until the father attempts to take his own life, and then the family is forced to take stock of the situation.

The story of the film is actually pretty interesting, but the direction and the acting is poor. Some shots are needlessly long, and add nothing to the story, while some are too thinly fleshed out. The script, I’m guessing is not well-weighted and prevents adequate treatment. A good effort, but leaves a lot to be desired. Also, am not sure if the dad’s character was meant to evoke sympathy, because he gets none from me. Yes, stress can make you go bonkers, but the man is shown without any redeeming qualities. His character (actually all the characters) needed to be fleshed out more to interest the viewer.

The film gives you a play-like feel, it’s like its being performed on a stage in front of you. Some shots like that of the brother-sister pair singing and dancing to a hindi film song are awkward. The films songs are pretty decent, although a bit on the melodramatic side. Out of all the charcaters, the mom’s character seems consistent and remotely likeable, Tara’s generates no interest, either because she tries to speak with the eyes and they don’t, or because her dialogue often sounds slurred and unclear.

As the film progresses it gets better; the second half shows improvement. Plus it gets pretty emotional, so even if you don’t give a whit about any characters (which really you don’t), the sheer unfairness of it all drags you in. For all that, this is still rated poor. Decidedly it’s a little below par all the other “immigrant desi” films I’ve seen, save “Where’s the party, yaar ?”. So, maybe worth a watch if you’re a desi in America, and if it’s a sleepy afternoon, and if there’s a famine of watchable Hindi films.

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