If this had *ANY* publicity from the Establishment Media, it would be a huge hit and make stars out of the younger cast members the way that Bend It Like Beckham did for Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra.

ScottMcC on March 23, 2007 at 12:10 PM

ScottMcC,

I enjoyed “Bend it Like Beckham” also. I enjoyed Parminder Nagra’s performance in that movie.

I also enjoyed Mississippi Masala, featuring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury, an Indian Actress. That film featured Choudhury as “Meehna,” a young adult Indian woman who was born in Uganda, Africa, and whose family was exiled by Idi Amin, who confiscated all their property and land. The family emigrated to Mississippi, USA and kept a humble business, her mother running an herb shop, her father running a motel. Meehna cleaned the motel and worked the motel.

Denzel Washington owned a carpet cleaning business. The motel was among his clients.

The movie showed the foolishness of racism as Meehna was seen as a hot chick that Washington’s character, Demetrius Williams, was hanging with, but when things became serious Demetrius’ family and friends spewed their racist venom at Meehna and Demetrius. Who is HE to be with THAT girl? She is not one of them!

The twist is, Meehna is actually African, born in Africa. She had never been to India, and she identified Africa as her home. Meehna, her father, and her mother, were all homesick for Africa. They missed their African friends, the land, everything. The “African Americans” of Denzel Washington’s Demetrius’ circle of family and friends, had known only the USA as their home, they were never Africans, had never been to Africa, and were actually showing their errant thought process in this story.

The taboos that the Indian friends and family members of Meehna and her family held, as well as those of the blacks in the movie who judged Demetrius’ and Meehna’s love creates some good tension in this movie, one which is only resolved when Demetrius finds that the woman who others insist he disavow turns out the be the only person who truly sees him for who he is, and whose love and loyalty to him is true and to be cherished.

I enjoy Bollywood films. My wife and I and our children rent them fairly often from the Indian grocery store where we buy ingredients for cooking Indian at home. We even own quite a few Bollywood-Indian films, as well as Indian music, classical Hindustani, as well as modern Indian music, such as from Bollywood movie soundtracks.

Some are fun to watch, like Faana, and Main Hoon Na. Others are emotionally moving, such as the family oriented Kabe Kush, Kabe Gum, and Lagaan. Others are intense, like Don, featuring Sharuk Khan, one of my favorite actors. The actress, Kajol, is among my favorite actresses, quite charismatic and photogenic, and former Miss World India, Ashwaria Ray is exceptionally beautiful as well as a good actress.

Of course I would like to see this movie, Americanizing Shelley.

William

William2006 on March 23, 2007 at 1:05 PM