Deepa Mehta tries to sprinkle the Bollywood magic on the Hollywood generation with Bollywood Hollywood and boy does she succceed .The movie has a 'Pretty Woman' twist to it but done with much humility, charisma and class. Evidently Deepa Mehta is out to have fun and she takes the audience with her on the ride. Wandering away from the issue-related words of Fire and Earth, she sets her sights on the standards and conventions of Bollywood.

This Canadian-desi flick spins a cliche-packed tale of a young Indian (Rahul Khanna) in Toronto who must succumb to the wishes of his family and find himself an Indian bride. Coincidently he bumps into a mysterious woman (Lisa Ray) in a bar and 'hires' her to play he part of his bride. Rahul Khanna is the main protagonist of the film and let me make the biases clear from now: I am partial to Rahul Khanna because he provides for major eye-candy. He plays a millionaire banker type who wheels around in a limo driven by the veteran actor Ranjit Chowdhary of Coming to American fame. A colourful cast of characters that find their way into your heart and provide for much comic relief supports him.

Lisa Ray who plays the female lead is full of secrets and surprises. Playing a very unconventional role for an Indian heroine required panache and Lisa Ray lights up the screen with her presence and performance. Playing Rahul Khanna's melodramatic mother is Moushmi Chatterjee, who is irritating initially with some overacting and over-crying crossing the threshold of funny but endears the viewer to a limit later on. Portraying his funny grand-mum is the fantastic and larger than life legend the late Dina Pathak.

The movie does promise slapstick comic relief, Hollywood style with Dina Pathak dropping Shakepearean sonnets and quotes at the drop of a hat. Sandeep Chowta has outdone himself with the music as always. Any faults? The story's baloney. Moreover, the digs and cracks at Mumbai's masala movies are not only laboured and they also fall flat in several places. An excerpt from Rangeela looks far superior to its parody. The love story is unconvincing at times, redeemed by likeable performances by Khanna and Ray. Kulbhushan Kharbandha as a laid-back Punjabi and Ranjit Chowdhary as a secret drag stand out in the ensemble cast.
Not the most satisfying of films but certainly by no standards dismissable, Ms Mehta presents a daringly different film that makes for palatable Tandoori entertainment.

Rasika Iyer