Its a bit surprising frankly that this and Republic of Love are more recent works of hers than 'Fire' and 'Earth' which are far more sophisticated. Mehta obviously has a critical and satirical mind but her delivery in this film was weak at best. Sure, there were enjoyable bits -- the opening scene with the dying father relaying sports metaphor after sports metaphor - dying pearls of wisdom to his son like many a Bollywood film, -- Mehta favorite Ranjit Chowdhry doing his 2 cross-dressing acts... but in the end the overall effort was disappointing and this seemed more like the work of a first time filmmaker than someone as accomplished as she. Visually the film was blah which is a shame because if you're going to play up the bollywood tropes at least engage in the richness of the choreography and the costuming. There didn't seem like enough of a commitment to the absurdity of 'Indian melodrama in a foreign land' where old country values clash against a new world setting. This is really not a new subject. Similar films that I think are far more effective in their satire and comedy are 'Masala' (1991) directed by Srinivas Krishna (really an under-rated film IMO)and 'Anita & Me'(2002) directed by Metin Huseyin. Even Chadha's 'Bride & Prejudice' while fairly cheeseball has more laugh out loud and absurd moments than this one. This film could have tried to stay the course with an absurdist theme but getting mired in the my whole 'is she a prostitute?/do i trust her/do i love her' just seems to derail it into a hopeless cliché.
This was probably a fairly low budget film with a tight schedule. Its a shame that someone of Mehta's talents couldn't make it richer than it was. This and Republic of Love really come off as sappy love conquers all stories. I know that pretty much all her movies deal with the love story but at least there are multiple levels of profundity in her remarkable trilogy (Fire, Earth, Water).
This was probably a fairly low budget film with a tight schedule. Its a shame that someone of Mehta's talents couldn't make it richer than it was. This and Republic of Love really come off as sappy love conquers all stories. I know that pretty much all her movies deal with the love story but at least there are multiple levels of profundity in her remarkable trilogy (Fire, Earth, Water).