Mississippi Masala
Product Type: DVD
Product Price: $14.94
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
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Description
An African-American businessman falls in love with an East Indian immigrant in Mississippi, and they are both shocked by the reactions of their famili
Mira Nair, the Indian director, scored an international art-house hit with her feature debut, Salaam Bombay!, a tale of life in the streets of seething urban India. Her next film was a surprising turnabout: Mississippi Masala is a cultural study and a love story set in the rural American south. The love story comes courtesy of Denzel Washington, as a rug cleaner, and Sarita Choudhury (from Nair's Kama Sutra), as the daughter of Indian immigrants running a small-time motel; both give fresh, charming performances. But Nair is equally interested in capturing the feelings of an exile's life, and Roshan Seth, the fine actor who played Nehru in Gandhi, superbly catches the hope and sorrow of dislocation. Although the issues are serious, Nair maintains a breezy, naturalistic approach, and the various ingredients of this masala blend into a rich, flavorful stew. --Robert Horton
Reviews
Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-06-21
Summary: "Mississippi Masala: The Spice of Southern Life"
Mississippi Masala is a production of Alliance Atlantis from 1991. It was directed by Mira Nair and stars Sarita Choudhury and Denzel Washington. It is a story of a family of Asian Indians who are forced to leave Uganda by the authority of Idi Amin in 1972. After living in London, England for about 15 years, they move to Greenwood, Mississippi in about 1987; however, the movie plot pauses after the family leaves Uganda then resumes 18 years later in 1990.
The principal characters in the story are Mina, a young Indian woman of 23 years who was born in Uganda and lives in Greenwood; Jay and Kinnu are Mina's father and mother, also born in Uganda and living in Greenwood; Anil, Pontiac, Jammubhai, and Kanti are members of Mina's extended family living in Greenwood. Demetrius is a young black man who was born and raised in Greenwood and owns a carpet cleaning service; Tyrone is his business partner and friend. Williben is Demetrius's widowed father, and Dexter is his brother.
Mira Nair, the Indian-born director, had previously directed five films including Salaam Bombay! Since Mississippi Masala, she has directed 16 projects. Mississippi Masala is Choudhury's first major role, but she has had many movie and television roles since. Denzel Washington had thirteen movie roles and had won two Oscars prior to his appearance in Mississippi Masala and has been in 29 films since. Among the other actors, Roshan Seth, who plays Mina's father was previously in Gandhi and a movie in the Indiana Jones series. Sharmila Tagore plays Kinnu, Mina's mother, and has been acting professionally since 1959, most notably in An Evening in Paris. Charles S. Dutton plays Tyrone, Demetrius's friend and business partner. He had been in seven movies previously. The primary cast is made up of Indians and blacks, but, although there are white characters in the story, none of them have major roles.
Mina explains that she is a mix masala. She tells Demetrius that masala is "a bunch of hot spices" used in Indian cuisine. Demetrius picks up on the spicy aspect of the name and occasionally calls her "Miss Masala." It is a name that proves provocative and evocative throughout the film as Mina negotiates four cultures in the movie but is especially caught up in the differences between the Indian and black communities in Greenwood.
The movie opens with scenes of the family during the last few days before they and all other Indians are expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. Mina is 6 years old at the time and sees her father arrested by the Amin military and watches her mother get harassed by soldiers on the way to the airport as they leave. Throughout the story both Mina and Jay have flashbacks to life in Uganda which serve to fill in some unresolved aspects of the story during that time.
The life of the family is picked up in 1990 in Greenwood, Mississippi and shows Mina driving Anil's car while transporting groceries for an upcoming wedding. While distracted by her mother, she rear ends a carpet cleaning van. No one is hurt in the crash, but Mina meets Demetrius under those circumstances. At the wedding, Mina is asked out on a date by Harry Patel, a wealthy bachelor and member of the Indian-American community . She accepts the invitation, and they go to the Leopard Lounge, a dance club that is frequented primarily by blacks. In the scenes of her at the Indian wedding and the black night club, we see her comfortable in both settings. We notice that she has darker skin than both of her parents and most of her fellow Indians, but she is fairer than the black people in the club. She happens upon Demetrius in the club and reintroduces herself to him and apologizes for the accident. When he asks her to dance, her uncle excuses himself from the club and the romance begins.
The storyline of the movie is two-fold. There is a romance between Mina and Demetrius that develops throughout the movie. There is also racial tension between the Indian community and the black community. Although that racial tension is usually not overt or violent, it manifests itself in subtle ways. Jammubhai, a relative of Anil, the owner of the car that Mina was driving when she rear-ended Demetrius, hires Demetrius to clean the carpets in his motel. While there, he takes Demetrius and Tyrone some tea and asks them to relax and talks to them. He tells them that he, like they, and Hispanics are all non-whites and that they have to stick together. He also asks Demetrius if he is okay after the accident and whether there is any damage to the vehicle. Demetrius assures him that he is not hurt and that the van is not damaged. In the end Demetrius assures him that he has no intention of suing over the accident.
Demetrius pursues Mina romantically. The first date he takes her on is a picnic at his house in which he asks her to meet his family. He knows that an ex-girlfriend will show up and he wishes to not be alone during the encounter. At the picnic Mina proves to be as comfortable in the presence of Demetrius's family and friends as she is with her own family. After an awkward encounter between Demetrius and his ex-girlfriend, Demetrius takes Mina to the bayou and they go for a walk. It is during the walk that they share a kiss and the viewer notices that the relationship evolves from one of companionship to something more romantic. This romance will open the racial tensions between the Indian and black communities.
Demetrius and Mina begin a telephone romance and see each other when Demetrius stops by the motel where Mina lives and works. He finally asks her to join him for an overnight trip to Biloxi, Mississippi. She lies to her father and tells him she would like to go to Biloxi overnight to see Nitou, a cousin. He is distracted as he assents to the trip. They go to Biloxi and spend an enjoyable evening and following morning. It is on this trip that they are shown having sex in their motel room. They are confronted by family members because she is staying in a motel with the black man and that behavior dishonors the family. That is when the subtle racism turns overt. The family members barge into the room and disrupt the trip sending Mina and Demetrius to jail. When they return to Greenwood, Mina has to explain her involvement with a black man to her family and community, and Demetrius has to explain his involvement with an Indian woman to his family and community. Moreover, Demetrius is ostracized by the community and his business suffers as a result. The conflict is resolved when Mina finds Demetrius while he is attempting to pick up business in a nearby city. In the end, the couple agree to stay together and move away from Greenwood.
At first blush, the concept of the Asian-Indian family as a motel owning entrepreneurship would appear as a cliché. Cruising I-75 one need only get off at nearly any exit and signs will announce a lodging as "American-owned." This advertising plays on the bigotry of the percentage of travelers who dislike foreigners. Mina addresses the xenophobic travelers who stop at her family's Monte Cristo Motel in Greenwood. She tells Demetrius, "You know how many people come to our motel, they look at us and say, `Not another goddam Indian?' That makes me so mad." The conflict between foreign-born entrepreneurs and bigoted white Americans is real.
On June 22, 1985, The New York Times printed an article about Indian ownership of motels. The article states, "According to one estimate, about 15,000, or 28% of the nation's 53,629 motels and hotels were owned by Indians or people of Indian descent." That means that on average, if an interstate exit has four or more lodgings, at least one will be owned by an Indian family. Not only that, the article reads, "Thousands of the Indian motel owners have the same surname, Patel, but are not necessarily related." Furthermore, one owner interviewed for the article says, "Indians are hard workers. Families play an important role in making a success of it."# All three of these aspects of Indian-American life play an important role in the movie. The stereotype of the Indian motel owner, the name of Patel as a wealthy bachelor, and the importance of family to the Indian-American community. What seems at first to be hackneyed may simply be the filmmaker's use of familiar themes to provide a shortcut to the more important plot of the film.
Though there are no principal actors that are white, there are some minor roles taken by white actors. Most of those roles involve establishing the white hegemony in the south. The most important such role is that of Mrs. Morgan, a wealthy white businesswoman who employs Williben, Demetrius's father as a waiter. She and her husband have given references to the bank so that Demetrius could get a loan to buy a van and machines to start his business. The two officers who arrest Demetrius and Mina are also white. Demetrius is reprimanded by a white representative of the Chamber of Commerce who tells him they "need responsible people, and you're not exactly appropriate." The banker who handles the loan is also white. As part of the ostracism, the banker tells Demetrius that his note is being called in. He must pay it off by the end of the month despite having a two-year history of regular payments. Finally, when Demetrius decides to sue Anil for the accident, he hires a white attorney to take his case. Though there are few white people, their presence is significant in that they are the people who control the power, politics, and economy of Greenwood. They are also the people who, despite disinterest in the racial tensions between the blacks and Indians, act as referees in their dispute.
The hegemony theme is furthered by Jay's role in Uganda versus his role in America. In Uganda he was an attorney who advocated for blacks against the powerful Asian-Indians. He admits that he was among the Indians who helped bring Idi Amin to power and eventually brought about his own expulsion from Uganda. As a result, Indian hegemony is lost to Amin and the Africans. In America, Jay and Anil are confronted by Demetrius's white lawyer. And although Jay tells Anil that Demetrius's suit does not stand a chance, Anil turns to Jay and tells him that not only does he not want Jay's help, he wants Jay and his family to leave. Anil defers to the hegemony of the white hierarchy over his kin.
There are three reasons why the white community would take the side of the Indians in their dispute with Demetrius. The Indians probably have more money than Demetrius. A survey of the median family incomes of whites, blacks, and Asian Indians in America shows that in 1989, one year before the setting of this movie, the annual income of black families was $22,430; the annual income of white families was $37,630; and the annual income of Asian Indian families was $49,309.# That material wealth goes a long way in persuading the economic hierarchy to take one's side. Also, the Asian Indians band together in their efforts to ostracize Demetrius. Conversely, the black community makes no effort to aid Demetrius. So, while the Indians are working as a team to defeat Demetrius. Demetrius is without the support of his community. The third factor is that society traditionally sympathizes with the woman in a dispute between a man and woman. And, although this is not a dispute between a man and a woman, it is a dispute between a man and a woman's family, Greenwood society has backed the woman's family and left the man to fend for himself.
The tensions between blacks and Indians are manifest throughout the movie in many other ways. In one movie review by Indian-American writer Erika Surat Andersen, she maintains, "Another provocative issue is raised by Okelo, a secondary but significant character in the film. An alternate reading of his relationship to Mina's family can be drawn from the text, namely, that Okelo is Mina's father."# She cites as evidence of this in that a picture of Okelo and Mina is one of the few possessions Kinnu takes from Uganda when they leave. That picture is a source of tension later in the movie when Jay sees the picture in the liquor store that Kinnu owns. Jay comes into the store and notices the picture and gets a perturbed look on his face. He asks, "Where'd that come from?" She replies, "It's always been there." Andersen also mentions the farewell scene at the bus station in Uganda. Okelo and Kinnu "share an intimate embrace, and get a somewhat hostile look from Jay when he happens upon them. Mina and Okelo's parting is affectionate and their faces are nose-to-nose in the frame, suggesting their similarity in appearance."# The picture mentioned above is also evidence of a similarity of looks between Okelo and Mina. The third piece of evidence that Andersen mentions is that Mina is darker than her parents. She refers to herself as a "darkie" and is called that by others in her family and the Indian community in Greenwood. In addition, Kinnu is as comfortable around black men as Mina is. While working at her liquor store which is situated in the black commercial section of Greenwood she is frequently entertained by Skillet who plays the harmonica and sings improvised flattering lines to her. She appears to enjoy the attention, and does nothing to discourage him loitering in her store. Furthermore, following Mina's date with Harry Patel when she shuns her date and allows Demetrius to take her home, she has a short conversation with her mother. Kinnu asks her about her date and whether she enjoyed herself. She says she did and asks her mother, "What happened with Okelo and Papa?" Her mother gets a concerned look (which Mina does not see) and replies, "How did that come into your head?" At the time of the conversation her mother does not know that Mina had begun the night with an Indian man and finished it with a black man. However, perhaps because of her attraction to Demetrius, suspicions of a relationship between her mother and Okelo had surfaced in her mind during the evening. Finally, in the story it is revealed that Mina is an only child. It is possible that Jay is impotent and the only way Kinnu could have a child was through conception by another man. Had Jay been able to father children, it is likely that Mina would not be an only child. Only Kinnu knows whether that is the case, and she does not tell Mina or anyone else so the matter of Mina's parentage is never resolved. Andersen comes to the conclusion, "If the film-maker had intended such an ambiguity, the message may be that we are all more racially mixed than we know."# Furthermore, the masala that is Mina may be spicier than she knows.
The underlying theme of the movie is racism. It manifests itself throughout the story. Near the end of the movie Demetrius tells Mina, "You didn't tell me your family had trouble with black folks." She replies, "You didn't ask." That said, the clues to the racism of the Indian community toward blacks were provided in the movie prior to their arrest. Many of them were available for Demetrius to discern if he had been paying attention. The first one occurs when Mina tells Harry Patel that she was going to stay at the club instead of going home with him. When Demetrius tells Patel that he will drive Mina home, Patel angrily stalks out of the club. Later, when he drives Mina home from the dance club, he parks in the parking lot and asks if he can escort her to her room. She politely declines saying, "I'll be all right." He gently pursues it one more time asking, "You sure?" She simply says, "Yeah." She gets out of the van and walks to her room alone. There may be several reasons for her to decline his invitation, but Demetrius fails to discern bigotry on the part of Mina`s family as one of them. When Demetrius comes to the motel while she is working at the front desk with one of the owners, she treats him like he is a potential guest. They pursue this charade until the manager leaves to make his rounds, but before Demetrius leaves he asks Mina to go to Biloxi with him. She makes the arrangements to go, however fraudulently, but instead of riding with him, she takes a bus. He meets her at a stop by the beach. It is then that she reveals that she has lied to her father and told him that her father thinks that she is meeting Nitou. He says, "I'm Nitou?" Mina says, "Yep." None of these warning signs occur to him that there would be a problem. Demetrius fails to see these clues; perhaps because Mina is not racist, Demetrius assumes the rest of her family will accept him as well.
Arranged marriages are a part of the Indian custom. There is one conversation that leads the viewer to believe that the marriage between Kinnu and Jay was arranged. While Mina and her mother talk, her mother says, "You can't fall in love in one day." Mina replies, "You and Papa did." That indicates that the marriage between Kinnu and Jay had no courtship and that they may have met for the first time at the altar. Kinnu smiles at Mina's oversimplified understanding of her parents' relationship, but does not reply. Arranged marriages are common in Indian communities both in India and around the world. However, in America, it is difficult for families to arrange marriages without the consent of the couple getting married. By law, both partners must voluntarily sign a marriage license in front of a representative of the clerk of court. In Mississippi, men must be at least 17 years old and women 15 unless there is a court order that allows a couple to marry at a younger age. Therefore, partners must give their consent to a marriage, and parents cannot arrange a marriage without the consent of the marrying parties. Mina's parents want her to marry Harry Patel. He is the wealthiest bachelor in the Indian community. Her mother tells Mina that she is concerned that she will end up "a spinster." Mina tells her mother in no uncertain terms that she is not interested in marrying Patel.
Neither Mina nor her parents have ever lived in India, but they practiced Indian customs in Africa and brought their religion with them to Mississippi as evidenced by both a marriage and a religious ceremony that were shown in the movie. Their views on marriage survive their emigrations as well. This is not unusual as Padma Srinivasan and Gary R. Lee in their research on Indian customs contend:
Processes of modernization and social change tend to eventuate in the gradual disappearance of customs such as the bride-price or dowry, along with arranged marriage customs in general. Indian arranged marriages and the accompanying dowry system have proved to be extremely resistant to social change, however.#
Though her parents would like Mina to choose an Indian to marry, Mina never allows Harry Patel's pursuit of her to get to the point of anyone talking about a dowry, wedding, or second date, for that matter. Furthermore, according to Binita Mehta in her essay, "Race, Color, and Identity in Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala," she says:
Although Indian immigrants wanted to prosper in Ugandan society, and were prepared to become Ugandan citizens, they were unwilling to give up caste and cultural differences...For example, marriage within one's caste or sub caste was rigidly followed, and needless to say, marriage between black Africans and Indians was completely out of the question.#
Mina also refuses to go back to Uganda where she may be forced to succumb to an arranged marriage. She grew up from the age of six with western traditions in London, and by the time she reaches Mississippi is a woman fully engaged in western values who has shunned Indian traditions. In fact, when Mina decides to leave Greenwood with Demetrius, she does so without the personal protection of family nor the legal protection of a marriage--certainly breaking with Indian tradition.
Any attempts by the Indians (with the exception of Mina) to relate to blacks are for selfish reasons, either to help their business or to discourage Demetrius from suing them. Jammubhai approaches Demetrius and Tyrone early in the movie, and throws out lines like, "If you're not white, you're colored," "All us people of color must stick together," and "United we stand; divided we fall." This is a device used to show solidarity with the blacks in order to discourage Demetrius from suing Anil over the accident. Demetrius, recognizing the intent of Jammubhai's façade, facetiously replies with clichés like, "Right on, Brother" and "Power to the people." The Indian characters do not see the ridicule in these rejoinders. This satire makes the Indians look foolish, and Andersen in her criticism of Mississippi Masala takes issue with the extent of that depiction. She says, "The Indian community is shown to be greedy, petty, and ridiculous. If a non-Indian film-maker had portrayed such characters, there would have been public outcry at the racist stereotypes." They are also depicted as poor fighters, and as the insinuation is that Jay is unable to father a child, Indians are further depicted as impotent. Andersen argues that "the black characters in Mississippi Masala are much more three-dimensional."# That would indicate that they are depicted as less gullible and more mature. However, one could argue that the black community in Greenwood is depicted as being less supportive of one of its successful citizens than would be the case in other black communities.# The barber in town sums up the black community's behavior as he is preparing to cut Demetrius's hair:
You know we're just as bad as everybody else. Black folks don't like to see other black folks do good. I tell them that you worked hard to get where you are. They don't want to hear that. The just sit on their butts and wait for you to fall on your face. And when you do they're just as happy.
As for Andersen's criticism of the movie's depiction of Indians, there would be few successful entrepreneurs who are actually greedy, petty, and gullible to the point of ridicule. The foibles of both communities are exaggerated in order to expedite the message.
My primary criticism of the movie is that the filmmakers used law enforcement as the bad guys by having them arrest Demetrius and Mina. If the officers were to have followed the protocol of "probable cause," they would have arrested the people who barged into the Demetrius's motel room illegally. Any officer worth his salt would have taken control of the situation and asked, "Who rented this room?" Those who were in the room without permission would have been arrested for criminal trespass and other offenses. The filmmakers could have found a more plausible means of creating a confrontation between the Indians and Demetrius and Mina. Instead they went for the cheap shot. This is not the first movie to do that, and it won't be the last, but for those who know anything about the law, it is a method that shows a lack of effort and imagination.
While walking on the beach in Biloxi, Mina and Demetrius discuss the race issue. Demetrius responds that in Mississippi they call racism traditional thinking. "Racism is like recipes. They get passed down. Now, the trick is that you got to know what to eat and what to leave on your plate. Otherwise, you'll be mad forever." Mina counters, "Or you'll never eat." The viewer sees the extent of the racism among the Greenwood Indians in two scenes. Following the arrest of Demetrius and Mina, Jay and Jammubhai are sitting in what appears to be an empty courtroom. They are there to receive Mina from the authorities and take her home (perhaps after having paid her bail). Tyrone walks into the same room and extends a hand of friendship to the Indians, but they ignore him. Later, when Demetrius goes to the Monte Cristo Motel and asks to see Mina, Jammubhai pages Jay to the front desk instead. Demetrius says that he is pleased to finally meet Mina's father and he extends a hand to him, but his attempt at civility is also ignored. He is also told that he will not be allowed to see Mina. His argument that she is a grown woman falls on deaf ears. And though these are serious, evocative scenes in the movie, the movie, on the whole, is light-hearted.
With all the conflict of racism, marriage, and questions of whether Mina's Papa is her father, one would assume that Mississippi Masala is a drama. However, it is a comedy, not just because the boy gets the girl in the end and nobody dies, but because there is humor embedded throughout the story. In her review, Erika Surat Andersen says, "Mississippi Masala is surprisingly humorous, and while the satire is at times at the expense of believable characters, at other times it proves enjoyably enlightening."# It is the idea that racial conflicts can be depicted as "enjoyably enlightening" that makes this movie stand out from others in which there is more drama and less fun. Stereotyping the conflicting communities is one of the devices used by the filmmakers to make the film humorous instead of dramatic. The only violence in the film is the confrontation in the motel room. Anil, the instigator, is shown to be an inept fighter--especially against Demetrius. He is injured in the fight and wears a bandage on his nose through the remainder of the movie.
Most films that have racism as their motif choose a story line that is either hegemonic or anti-hegemonic. In this case the story is about which community is going to come out in second place behind the white power structure. Is it going to be the black community that follows American principles or the Indian community that still adheres to Asian principles and mores? The answer is that when the two communities collide, they both lose. The blacks lose one of their more successful businessmen and the Indians lose one of their hard-working women. The Indians would have been well-advised to have followed the clichés that they espoused in order to merely protect their property. Those principles would have also protected their family. The conflict between the blacks and Indians has not harmed the white power structure at all, and in the end the white hegemony is even more entrenched in Greenville society.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-05-04
Summary: "Good Movie"
I am a big Denzel fan ,i am starting to collect his movies,This is one of my favorites
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-05-04
Summary: "Gorgeous, postcolonial"
Mira Nair's second hit, Mississippi Masala, shares many characteristics with her later work, Monsoon Wedding, though it is also deeply enmeshed in early 90s postcolonial cinema of the Hanif Kureishi vein (e.g. My Beautiful Laundrette). There is a large cast of characters, each with believable and poignant histories, each different. There is much moral ambiguity and emotional grayness. People talk over each other, scenes end abruptly, the camera wanders. Racism - postcolonial cinema's big theme - is, as usual, presented in a harshly realistic light: not childishly one-sided as in Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, but complex and hairy, as in Kureishi's My Son the Fanatic.
There are two plots. The first protagonist is Jay (Roshan Seth), a Ugandan lawyer of Indian descent, who - along with his wife, Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore), and daughter, Meena - is expelled from Uganda during the reign of Idi Amin. The family moves to Mississippi, where it joins a community of Indian expatriates who dominate the bayou's motel industry. For twenty years, Jay lives and breathes nostalgia for Uganda, and he dreams incessantly of returning to their home. Meanwhile, Meena has grown into Sarita Choudhury, the second protagonist, a self-described masala of cultures. Like her father, Meena yearns to be free of Mississippi. One day, she gets into a fender bender with an African American carpet cleaner, Demetrius (Denzel Washington). The two bump into each other again at a nightclub, and begin dating. As the couple falls in love, both the Indian and African American communities react with shocked, racist indignation.
Now, even though the romance is more obviously the main narrative, Jay's story of forced migration is given equal weight in the film. Indeed, the film ends with Jay's story, Meena's having wrapped up several scenes earlier. This works well because the stories complement each other perfectly: both Jay and Meena are part of a fluid, transplanted diaspora, and both come up against the over-simplifying use of skin color as a "defining" ethnic trait. As Jay says: "I am Ugandan first, Indian second." Meanwhile, Demetrius' layabout brother (Tico Wells) notes that Meena is just like them: an Indian who has never been to India, like they're Africans who have never been to Africa. Thus both Jay and Meena's story show how this cultural identification is often superficial and imposed: essentially, Jay and Meena are African and Demetrius is American, but their skin color confuses these definitions in onlookers' eyes.
Similarly, the way Jay and Meena react to these ethnic ambiguities is different. Jay still grieves for something his Ugandan friend, Okelo, told him in 1972: "Africa is for Africans. Black Africans." As Jay sees it, even with good will, "race" cannot be overcome - his best friend's ultimate betrayal demonstrated that. Jay becomes part of the problem, even, when he refuses to accept Demetrius on the basis of skin color. Yet Meena points out that despite Okele's words, his actions demonstrated a friendship and love that did surmount race. Indeed, when Jay returns to Uganda, Okele's sacrifice is confirmed. And Meena shows that "race" can be a hollow concept, as she chooses a relationship with Demetrius without hesitation or thought of their racial differences.
It goes without saying that the acting is very good. As we've mentioned before, Roshan Seth really only worked in these sorts of postcolonial roles (can you imagine him in some naach-gaana?!), and he was great in them. He also lucked out in being given a couple of wonderful scenes, thanks mostly to the editing: both moments when Jay is transported back to Uganda via a photo or a phrase, and we have alternating shots of Roshan Seth looking distant, and a vibrant, Elysial Uganda of yore.
In her first role, Sarita Choudhury was acceptable as Meena, though the real weight of the relationship came from Denzel Washington's gravitas. Had it been left up to Sarita, we don't think it would have been as compelling or believable - in a way, her rough edges showed. Denzel, however, was reliably good, and he was also charming as ever. The various other cast members - with some familiar faces from other 90s postcolonial and Bollywood films - were fine. We should note Konga Mbandu, who had the brief but critical role of Okelo. The scene when Jay and his family is leaving is heartwrenching, thanks mostly to Konga's obvious yet restrained suffering.
We highly recommend this film for any viewer, whether ye be a lover of Hindi cinema or not, as it touches on such universal themes of migration, home, and the flimisiness (or inflexibility?) of "ethnicity". Like My Son the Fanatic, it is intellectually stimulating and emotionally involving. Just lovely!
*Review originally published at the Post-Punk Cinema Club.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-04-26
Summary: "Much more than race relations!"
A beautifully made film. Stunning performences by everyone. The chemistry between Sarita Chowdhary and Denzel Washington is impeccable. Roshan Seth never fails to deliver a sattisfying performence, we feel every bit of his emotion. The emphasis on racism is shown very well and every event, every situation is very genuine as one can witness. Neat performences by Ranjit Chowdhary, Mohan Agashe and Vikram Gokhale, Sharmila Tagore is very decent in her role. A sweet, warm and bold film, a very rare gem of a film.
Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-03-20
Summary: "sweet, beautiful pictues of Africa"
sweet, fun with beautiful pictues of Africa. A good movie for teaching about racial relations.
But if I was a movie reviewer I would say two and a half stars.
It's a bit lightweight.