Friday, May 09, 2008
Hope & A Little Sugar
Saloni, the leading lady of Tanuja Chandra’s film believes that there’s nothing that cannot be fixed with hope and a little sugar. That’s the name of her mithai shop in New York and the title of the film. Cute, sort of..
Chandra’s first English-language film, portraying the trauma of an Indian family post 9/11 tries too hard to say something, but it’s as if the words come out in slurred sentences.
Ali (Amit Sial) is a photographer who works as a messenger in New York, when he is mistaken for a Sikh and befriended by the Oberois. He falls in love with Saloni (Mahima Chaudhary), who is married to Harry (Vikram Chatwal), the son of the Oberoi couple (Anupam Kher-Suhasini Mulay).
The Oberois are the usual noisy, bhangra dancing family, and the father, Colonel Oberoi lives in his 1971 Bangladesh war era. The friendship between Ali and Saloni is as half-baked as the romance later, when Harry dies in the World Trade Centre tragedy.
Saloni recovers quickly, but the Colonel refuses to accept the fact of his son’s death and then takes his fury out on Ali, because he is a Muslim. Rather unnecessarily, Ali is given a past—he suffered the Mumbai riots as a child.. Chandra seems to imply that Muslims suffer everywhere—as victims or perpetrators of terrorism, but the deadpan Ali’s face barely registers emotion, leave aside the pain of the community in two continents.
However undeveloped, it is an attempt to understand prejudices, though it looks like a telefilm of the kind seen on HBO. It’s nicely shot, with adequate performances and it’s relief to hear characters speak English with normal Indian accents, not the exaggerated sing-song they are made to put on. It seems as if no NRI film can be made without the presence of Ranjit Chowdhry and here he pops up as the sad Mr Ghosh, who looks as if is wondering whether he is in the right film.
Chandra’s first English-language film, portraying the trauma of an Indian family post 9/11 tries too hard to say something, but it’s as if the words come out in slurred sentences.
Ali (Amit Sial) is a photographer who works as a messenger in New York, when he is mistaken for a Sikh and befriended by the Oberois. He falls in love with Saloni (Mahima Chaudhary), who is married to Harry (Vikram Chatwal), the son of the Oberoi couple (Anupam Kher-Suhasini Mulay).
The Oberois are the usual noisy, bhangra dancing family, and the father, Colonel Oberoi lives in his 1971 Bangladesh war era. The friendship between Ali and Saloni is as half-baked as the romance later, when Harry dies in the World Trade Centre tragedy.
Saloni recovers quickly, but the Colonel refuses to accept the fact of his son’s death and then takes his fury out on Ali, because he is a Muslim. Rather unnecessarily, Ali is given a past—he suffered the Mumbai riots as a child.. Chandra seems to imply that Muslims suffer everywhere—as victims or perpetrators of terrorism, but the deadpan Ali’s face barely registers emotion, leave aside the pain of the community in two continents.
However undeveloped, it is an attempt to understand prejudices, though it looks like a telefilm of the kind seen on HBO. It’s nicely shot, with adequate performances and it’s relief to hear characters speak English with normal Indian accents, not the exaggerated sing-song they are made to put on. It seems as if no NRI film can be made without the presence of Ranjit Chowdhry and here he pops up as the sad Mr Ghosh, who looks as if is wondering whether he is in the right film.
Labels: Cinemaah
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